ABUSE TRACKER

IOWA
Des Moines Register

William Petroski, bpetrosk@dmreg.com

Victims of child sexual abuse would have more time to file civil lawsuits, and the statute of limitations for child sex crimes would be eliminated, under a bill advanced by an Iowa Senate subcommittee following emotional testimony Thursday.

However, a proposed amendment to Senate File 107 would remove a key provision that says victims of alleged child sexual abuse who are now barred from filing civil lawsuits under Iowa’s statute of limitations would be given a three-year window to commence lawsuits.

The bill was sent to the Iowa Senate Judiciary Committee following testimony from three men who spoke of being sexually abused by clergy members as minors.

Bill LaHay, of Des Moines, who participated as an adult in a lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles after sexual abuse he experienced as a child, urged lawmakers to open a window for abuse victims to file civil lawsuits. He said it would help restore the balance of justice.

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CITTA’ DEL VATICANO
l’Espresso

Riesplode VatiLeaks: l’Espresso pubblica i documenti riservatissimi in cui i cardinali si insultano e litigano tra loro per la gestione del potere e di affari milionari. Tutti contro George Pell, il nuovo zar delle finanze chiamato da Bergoglio. Il camerlengo: «Siamo in una fase di “sovietizzazione”». A rischio le riforme di Francesco

di Emiliano Fittipaldi
26 febbraio 2015

Alla Santa Sede scoppia un nuovo Vatileaks. Dopo lo scandalo dei corvi che portò alle dimissioni di Benedetto XVI, “l’Espresso” in edicola domani pubblica documenti esclusivi che descrivono gli scontri tra i cardinali che papa Francesco ha messo al vertice della sua gerarchia ecclesiastica.

Le due fazioni sono capitanate dall’australiano George Pell (capo della nuova potentissima Segreteria dell’Economia) e da Pietro Parolin, il segretario di Stato che ha preso il posto di Tarcisio Bertone, e stanno battagliando da mesi per il controllo delle finanze vaticane, per il destino dello Ior e dell’Apsa e per quello dei alcuni business strategici, come l’ospedale romano dell’Idi.

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VATICAN CITY — Feb 26, 2015

Associated Press

Pope Francis’ finance czar is coming under intense scrutiny after ruffling feathers at the Vatican as he seeks to impose order on its unruly finances.

Italian weekly L’Espresso reported in its Friday editions that Cardinal George Pell’s economy secretariat had run up a half-million euros (dollars) in expenses in the first six months of its existence. The total includes seemingly legitimate expenses, including computers and printers, but also a 2,508 euro bill from the famed Gamarelli clergy tailor.

The expenditures are notable given that Pell has instituted a spending review across the Vatican to ensure any excess money is spent on the poor, L’Espresso noted.

Resistance to the Australian Pell from the largely Italian Vatican bureaucracy has been growing steadily but spiked in December after he boasted that he had “discovered” hundreds of millions of euros that had been “tucked away” in sectional accounts off the Vatican balance sheet.

In fact, the money was well-known and was purposefully kept off the books, much of it set aside for use as reserves for funding shortfalls.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Sueddeutsche

[A priest accused of sexual abuse of Ettal monastery has surprisingly confessed. A witness testified in court that the priest apologized.]

Von Heiner Effern

Der des sexuellen Missbrauchs angeklagte Pater Georg aus dem Kloster Ettal hat am vierten Prozesstag überraschend ein weitgehendes Geständnis abgelegt. Seine Verteidiger erklärten vor dem Landgericht München II, dass ihr Mandant den Missbrauch von zwei Schülern und einen Versuch bei einem weiteren Buben einräume. Zuvor hatte der dritte Belastungszeuge unter Ausschluss der Öffentlichkeit alle Vorwürfe gegen den 44 Jahre alten Geistlichen bestätigt. Daraufhin entschuldigte sich Pater Georg bei ihm. Er muss nun mit einer Bewährungsstrafe zwischen einem Jahr und neun Monaten und maximal zwei Jahren rechnen. Darüber hinaus sagte er zu, eine ambulanten Sexualtherapie zu absolvieren. Das geht aus einer Mitteilung des Gerichts vom Donnerstag hervor.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Josh Halliday
Thursday 26 February 2015

In harrowing detail, 60 men and women have recounted the abuse they suffered at the hands of Jimmy Savile many years ago.

One woman described how she was raped aged 12 by the late DJ after being admitted to Stoke Mandeville to have her tonsils out. Even though the encounter took place in January 1977, the woman had a vivid recollection of the hospital ward smelling of vomit and faeces. Savile, she said, smelled strongly of cigars and body odour. …

Another attack took place in the hospital’s chapel. Savile, who claimed to be a devout Roman Catholic, systematically abused a girl over a period of five years, carrying out the attacks behind a curtain in the presbytery.

The girl, named only as Victim 24 in the report, described how she felt powerless to stop him and unable to tell anyone: “Every time I went in that room I just knew that he would touch me wherever he wanted to touch me.”

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Robert M. Hoatson | Feb. 26, 2015

I am an ex-Christian Brother of Ireland, ex-priest, survivor of sexual abuse, and advocate for thousands of sexual abuse victims for over a decade. Recently, I saw the movie, “50 Shades of Grey,” but not for reasons one might suspect. I saw the movie because a preview I read mentioned that the title character was a victim of childhood sexual abuse. I was not interested in being titillated with images of intimate sexuality, nudity, or pornography. I was most intrigued by how the film would depict the life of a childhood sexual abuse victim, and I was not disappointed.

The movie I saw on opening night in a packed New York City theater was not about sex, despite all one might read about “50 Shades of Grey”. The fifty shades of Christian Grey were unfortunate shadows hovering over a young, handsome man who seemingly had never received any counseling, psychotherapy or sympathy for the sexual violation of his innocence as a boy. The movie was about the “break” in the psyche of Christian which led him to fear intimacy, vulnerability, passion, and friendship. Christian needed an intervention by a compassionate advocate to help him understand how his life had ironically cycled out of control despite his efforts to control everything and everyone.

“50 Shades of Grey” is not a movie about kinky sex. There is hardly anything sexual about the movie. It is about abuse of power and its aftermath. Christian, a wealthy, handsome young man at the peak of his manhood is incapable of developing an intimate and meaningful relationship with a beautiful young woman who tries everything (including becoming somewhat of a sex slave) to get to Christian’s soul. What she did not realize was that her boyfriend’s soul had been murdered as a child and, as a result, he could not emote as most normal human beings can.

I am hoping psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and other mental health professionals will view this movie and weigh in on its psycho-social and psycho-sexual implications. The “toys” that Christia possessed (women, cars, helicopters, ropes, chains, handcuffs, etc.) never brought him peace, security, or satisfaction. They exacerbated his profound loneliness, a loneliness that can be traced back to his childhood when an adult’s sexual abuse isolated him from the rest of humanity and made him feel shame and guilt.

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CZECH REPUBLIC
Star Tribune

Associated Press Updated: February 26, 2015

PRAGUE — A court official in the Czech Republic says a Roman Catholic priest has been convicted of rape and sexual abuse and sentenced to five years in prison.

Jan Dolezal, spokesman for the county court in Havlickuv Brod, located some 120 kilometers (75 miles) southeast of Prague, said Erik Tvrdon was found guilty of raping four women and sexually abusing a minor. Police previously said they believed he forced a 13-year old girl to send him naked images of herself.

Tvrdon pleaded not guilty.

Thursday’s verdict is not final. Dolezal says the state prosecutor has appealed, demanding a stiffer prison term.

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CANADA
CBC News

A former Ottawa priest jailed for stealing $130,000 from his parish has joined the clergy at a New Brunswick church after being released from custody on good behaviour.

Father Joe LeClair joined Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity Parish near Moncton, NB as an assistant priest in January 2015, church staff told CBC News.

LeClair, a diagnosed pathological gambler, pleaded guilty to defrauding Ottawa’s Blessed Sacrament Church over the course of five years, between 2006 and 2011.

He was sentenced to one year in jail but released in Nov. 2014 after serving two-thirds of his sentence.

LeClair is originally from Prince Edward Island. He became known as a popular and charismatic priest at Blessed Sacrament in the Glebe. He left the parish in May 2011 after the Archdiocese of Ottawa launched an audit of the church’s finances.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Brian Roewe | Feb. 26, 2015

As U.S. dioceses continue their Vatican-ordered consultations for the upcoming Synod of Bishops on the family, a national clergy group has launched its own questionnaire in an effort to highlight the issues most pressing to priests.

The Association of U.S. Catholic Priests sent a synod survey on Jan. 31 to its 1,000-plus members, asking each not to answer the 46 questions presented in the synod’s working document, the lineamenta, but instead to rank them in importance on a seven-point scale from “not important” to “essential.” Each question also offers comment space for priests to expand on those questions they deemed as essential.

The instructions for the survey also ask respondents to keep in mind two “preliminary” questions posed by the synod document: Does the descriptions of family issues in the lineamenta correspond to today’s church and society? And what aspects are missing that should be included?

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

By Kevin Sharkey
BBC News NI

A former resident of a boy’s home has said there should be no compensation arising from the findings of the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry.

The retired policeman, was cared for by Sister of Nazareth nuns in Termonbacca, Londonderry.

It is one of 13 institutions being investigated by the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry (HIA).

Some victims groups want compensation payments before the inquiry completes it work in two years time.

Bernard McEldowney spent 16 years at Termonbacca.

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GUAM
Concerned Catholics of Guam

February 26, 2015

The Concerned Catholics of Guam submitted the following reports to the Vatican delegation that visited the Archdiocese of Agana in January 2015. Click on the links below to view and download the reports:

Report On Affairs Within Archdiocese of Agana

Report On Affairs Within Archdiocese of Agana (Supplement)

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

02/25/2015

Jennifer Haselberger

If you have not already done so, I strongly encourage everyone to read Professor Jack Ruhl’s analysis of diocesan fiscal practices, found in the National Catholic Reporter. Under the title, ‘Survey Finds Serious Flaws in Diocesan Financial Management’, Ruhl provides a thoughtful and thorough explanation of the pending crisis in funding for the retirement of priests, as well as an explanation of how diocesan pension plans are managed and funded. He also evaluates the types of financial reports provided by Catholic dioceses to their faithful, concluding that many are little more than ‘an unsupported assertion by the diocese’.

The article includes a very useful spreadsheet including information for all dioceses for which detailed financial information was available, and listing those for who it is not. The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis appears as being somewhere between the two categories, despite the recent bankruptcy-driven financial disclosures.

Ruhl’s conclusions may strike some as being obvious, unless one considers how infrequently they are done. For instance, he argues that every diocese should post a full set of audited financial statements on its website within 60 days of the close of the fiscal year, and that such disclosures should include the entire diocesan accounting entity (including, for instance, seminaries and pensions). He also suggests that priests and laity should assume the roles of financial watchdogs over diocesan resources, and that all dioceses with projected pension shortfalls should initiate a plan to fully fund the shortfalls within a reasonable period (he suggests three years).

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MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

Kirstyn Harasyn, Abused by Youth Ministries Director at Glen Cary Lutheran Church, Takes Back Power, Provides Statement

(St. Paul, MN) – Kirstyn Harasyn, an adult who was abused as a minor by a Ham Lake, Minn., youth ministries director, has settled her civil lawsuit against her abuser and the church for which he worked. Today, she speaks out with a powerful statement about the abuse she endured, her journey of recovery and her mission to save other children from being hurt by her abuser and others.

Kirstyn was sexually abused in approximately 2010 by Damian Blake Burkhalter, while Burkhalter was the youth ministries director at Glen Cary Lutheran Church in Ham Lake, and Kirstyn was a member of the church youth group. Prior to Burkhalter’s abuse of Kirstyn, Glen Cary Lutheran Church was warned that Burkhalter had engaged in inappropriate behavior with children. Kirstyn filed suit against Glen Cary Lutheran Church and Burkhalter regarding her abuse.

The lawsuit, which recently settled, allowed Kirstyn to stand up for herself and for others. She wants the story known. She has provided today’s statement and is available for comments.

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CALIFORNIA
San Francisco Chronicle

By C.W. Nevius
February 25, 2015

This week, San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone met with The Chronicle’s editorial board. He’s charming, humorous and engaging.

He’s also dead wrong.

The controversy stems from his proposed changes in the collective bargaining agreement with teachers in archdiocese high schools that would designate them as “ministers.” In addition, “clarifications” to school handbooks would emphasize that employees would have to follow the teachings of the church, leading some parents and teachers to call the additions morality clauses because they involve things like same-sex relationships and abortion.

Cordileone may have reconciled his personal beliefs — saying he would allow gay students at archdiocese schools but adamantly opposes the right of same-sex couples to marry — but many of the rest of us are still shaking our heads.

Cordileone made every effort to minimize the controversy, but his explanations were difficult to follow at best.

Take his statement: “To call an act gravely evil does not mean that the person who does the act is an evil person.”

That may be clear to him, but I don’t get it. Among the “evil” activities he’s talking about are homosexuality, same-sex marriage and even in-vitro fertilization. It’s the kind of chilling distinction that puts everyone on edge.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philly.com

OPENING statements are set to begin this week in the case of a suspended Philadelphia priest whose previous trial ended after a jury deadlocked over charges that he molested a boy almost two decades ago.

The Rev. Andrew McCormick is accused of having assaulted an altar boy in a rectory bedroom in 1997 when he was at St. John Cantius in Bridesburg. He was arrested in 2012. A jury deliberated for four days last March without reaching a verdict.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

BY JOANNE SWEENEY – 26 FEBRUARY 2015

Only one in five Catholics is regularly attending Sunday Mass in the Down and Connor Diocese, a new report has revealed.

And attendance at Mass in the greater Belfast area has been recorded as low as 16% of all Catholics who live in the area, according to the diocesan report.

Figures from an audit taken last year in Down and Connor, the second largest diocese on the island, showed that based on the 2011 census figures of a potential 356,585 Catholics, only 72,818 were recorded as attending weekly Mass over a two-week period when the count was taken.

The findings also show a situation of an aging church population against the backdrop of an aging priest population.

There were 27 priests aged under 50 in 2014 and 54 aged between 51 and 65, while a third of all Mass-goers were aged 61 and over.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Regensburg-Digital

[video]

[Quite surprisingly, the diocese of Regensburg announced on Tuesday to pay damages for the injuries from physical abuse in the cathedral choir Preschool Etterzhausen and Pielenhofen. According to the Ordinariate students were beaten 1953-1992 mainly by the former director Johann Maier.]

Von Robert Werner in Nachrichten, Überregional

Völlig überraschend kündigte das Bistum Regensburg am Dienstag an, für die erlittenen körperlichen Misshandlungen in der Domspatzen-Vorschule Etterzhausen und Pielenhofen Schmerzensgeld zu zahlen. Nach Angaben des Ordinariats seien Schüler von 1953 bis 1992 vor allem vom ehemaligen Direktor Johann Maier regelmäßig so schwer verprügelt worden, dass strafrechtlich gesehen Körperverletzung vorliege. 72 ehemalige Schüler, die sich seit März 2010 mit Berichten an das Ordinariat gewendet hätten, sollen nun ein Schmerzensgeld in der Höhe von 2.500 Euro erhalten. Die in den Regensburger Domspatzen-Einrichtungen körperlich Misshandelten scheinen leer auszugehen. Wie schon im November letzten Jahres vorgelegten Bericht zu sexuellen Missbrauch, schweigt sich das Ordinariat erneut über die vielfach und gleichlautend beklagten Regensburger Vorfälle aus.

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MALLORCA
Mallorca das Inselradio

[A former priest is accused of abuse]

Auf Mallorca wurde jetzt ein ehemaliger Priester aus Selva angezeigt. Der Kläger, ein 38-jähriger Anwohner der Gemeinde, beschuldigt den Pfarrer ihn als 10-Jährigen sexuell missbraucht zu haben. Damals war er als Messdiener in der Kirchengemeinde in Selva tätig. Die Polizei hat die Ermittlungen bereits aufgenommen. Der beschuldigte Priester weist die Vorwürfe unterdessen von sich. Die Anschuldigungen seien nichts weiter als ein Racheakt des ehemaligen Ministranten, so der Rentner.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Sexueller Missbrauch durch Angehörige der katholischen Kirche im Bistum Trier

Claudia Adams

“Mein Standpunkt” aus dem Kölner Stadt Anzeiger von Prof. Becker
“Sexueller Missbrauch ist Seelenmord”

“Professor Dr. Werner Becker lebt und arbeitet in Köln. Er ist Zahnmediziner und Heilpraktiker. Werner Becker, selber Missbrauchs-Opfer, nimmt Stellung zu den Vorfällen in Erftstadt und zu Pfarrer Jansen.

Was sich in Erftstadt abgespielt hat, seitdem am 1. Februar Missbrauchsvorwürfe gegen den Pfarrer der katholischen Gemeinde, Winfried Jansen, laut geworden sind, hat mich als Opfer sexuellen Missbrauchs durch einen Geistlichen bis an die Grenze des Erträglichen aufgewühlt. Ich habe von Solidaritäts-Gottesdiensten gelesen, von Unterschriftenlisten und heftiger Kritik am Erzbistum Köln.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

26 February, 2015

The Royal Commission has released a report that examines issues related to the effectiveness of pre-employment screening in preventing child sexual abuse within institutions.

Royal Commission CEO Phillip Reed said the report, prepared by the Parenting Research Centre and the University of Melbourne, makes valuable findings which will be used to shape the Royal Commission’s final recommendations.

“The Royal Commission was set up to investigate where systems have failed to protect children, a core area of our work is also recommending ways to improve them,” he said.

The report summarises evidence on the effectiveness of pre-employment screening practices.

“Research on current employment screening practices helps us better understand what works and what doesn’t when it comes to checking people who apply to work with children,” Mr Reed said.

“We have used this research to inform our draft consultation paper on Working With Children Checks, which is currently with Children’s Commissioners and Guardians for comment before the Royal Commission releases its report on this topic in May.

“Effective pre-employment screening practices are just one piece of the puzzle that can help prevent child sexual abuse from occurring in the first place.”

Researchers found that criminal background checks are an important component of pre-employment screening and are most effective when used with other safeguards, such as thorough reference checks and verification of the applicant’s identity, employment history and qualifications.

About the report

Scoping Review: Evaluations of pre-employment screening practices for child-related work that aim to prevent child abuse

Key findings include:

* Criminal background checks appear to be universally considered an important component of pre-employment screening practices.

* Criminal background checks are most effective when combined with other pre-employment screening practices including:

* thorough reference checks including direct questions about any concerns regarding the applicant’s suitability to work with children

* structured employment interviews with a focus on determining the applicant’s suitability to work with children

* checks against other sources of information on suspected or substantiated child abuse, for example child abuse registries, Children’s court decisions, disciplinary body proceedings

* critical examination of an applicant’s employment history and/or written application

* verification of the applicant’s identity using, for example, photo-based documents or finger-printing

* verification of the applicant’s education and/or qualifications.

* Given the methodological difficulties in measuring the effect of pre-employment screening on rates of child sexual abuse it is not surprising that the review did not identify any rigorous evaluations of these practices.

More information

Read the Executive Summary
Download the full report (PDF 944 kB)
Download Appendix 1: Citations details of all 270 excluded papers by exclusion category (PDF 622 KB)
Download Appendix Appendices 2 and 3: Data extraction forms for scoping review (PDF 1.1 MB)

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CANADA
Coast Mountain News

by Caitlin Thompson – Coast Mountain News
posted Feb 25, 2015

Hundreds of people gathered in the small community of Alert Bay last week to witness a symbolic end to a dark period of Canadian history: the destruction of St. Michael’s Residential School.

Although its doors officially closed in 1974, the impact of the school is still very much alive. The first church-run residential school in the area dates back to 1882, and St. Michael’s opened its doors in 1929 in Alert Bay on Cormorant Island, near Port McNeill on northern Vancouver Island.

Constructed by the B.C. government, it was the largest school of its kind operated by the Anglican Church. St. Michael’s school held aboriginal people from northern Vancouver Island and B.C.’s north coast, including from Bella Bella, Bella Coola, the Nisga’a territories and Haida Gwaii.

An estimated 160,000 children attended residential schools across Canada and last Wednesday, a massive survivor ceremony hosted by the Namgis First Nation celebrated the demolition of St. Michael’s.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

An arrest warrant has been issued for a former Knox Grammar School teacher who failed to appear at the royal commission into child sexual abuse.

Christopher Fotis was called to give evidence at the Sydney hearing on Tuesday, but did not show up.

Counsel assisting the commission David Lloyd said New South Wales Police was investigating, and Mr Fotis may be brought in to give evidence while in custody.

“On Tuesday morning we called Mr Christopher Fotis up and there was no appearance,” Mr Lloyd told the hearing.

“In the wake of Mr Fotis’s failure to answer the summons issued on him by the royal commission, the royal commission has issued a warrant for his arrest.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Nicole Chettle

A former teacher at the prestigious Knox Grammar School in Sydney was suspected of hiding under a boy’s bed and inappropriately touching him, the royal commission into child sexual abuse has heard.

The commission heard details of the alleged assault, which was said to have occured in the late 1980s, from Dr Timothy Hawkes, who was a former Knox Grammar boarding house master and is now the current headmaster at Kings School at Parramatta.

Dr Hawkes said he was alerted to what became known as the “balaclava man” incident when he responded to what was believed to be an intruder about 5:00am.

“This was just a bizarre, extraordinary and extremely worrying and even frightening event,” Dr Hawkes told the hearing.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

Ten years after mandatory reporting of child sex abuse became law there was no system in place at Knox Grammar to make sure teachers knew they should call police.

In the fourth day of a hearing into how the up-market boys school on Sydney’s north shore dealt with sex abuse allegations, Peter Crawley said there were few systems in place when he took over from Ian Paterson as headmaster in 1999.

He said any system to educate staff about their obligations in terms of mandatory reporting was absent.

‘When I took over it was pretty clear that there were a lot of systems in that school that were absent …’ he said.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Rick Feneley
News and features writer

A former Knox Grammar teacher who failed to appear at a royal commission into child abuse this week has not been seen near his Nelson Bay home for days.

An arrest warrant was issued for Chris Fotis when he did not show up to give evidence at the royal commission on Tuesday.

The 52-year-old, who taught religious education, was asked to leave Knox in September 1989 after he was arrested for masturbating outside a school at North Ryde.

The commission has heard he was also suspected of molesting a student while wearing a balaclava in 1988 or 1989. The attacker, wearing a Knox tracksuit, had hid under a bed before groping a student in a boarding house at the school.

He has been living in Nelson Bay, Port Stephens, and was acting as secretary of the Nelson Bay Tennis Club last year.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Mid Sussex Times

A Roman Catholic priest from Pease Pottage has denied sexually abusing young boys at a children’s home in London.

Father Anthony McSweeney, 68, of Old Brighton Road, Pease Pottage, faces historic child sex charges involving boys at Southwark Crown Court.

The court heard McSweeney was close friends with John Stingemore, who was the manager of a care home in Hounslow, west London. Stingemore was found dead last month aged 72.

Last week, Sarah Plaschkes QC, prosecuting, said Stingemore also abused boys and provided McSweeney access to children at the care home.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Washington Times

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Opening statements are scheduled to begin in the case of a suspended Philadelphia priest whose previous trial ended after a jury deadlocked over charges that he molested a young boy almost two decades ago.

The Rev. Andrew McCormick is accused of having assaulted an altar boy in a rectory bedroom in 1997. A jury deliberated for four days last year without reaching a verdict in the trial.

The 26-year-old victim alleges that the abuse started when he was 11 and later led him to attempt suicide. His mother says she previously spoke with the priest at their northeast Philadelphia parish about concerns that her son was gay.

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AUSTRALAI
Newcastle Herald

By GABRIEL WINGATE-PEARSE Feb. 25, 2015

BISHOPS and religious leaders must ‘‘get with the program’’ of the zero tolerance culture being demanded by Pope Francis, Catholics were told at an information session in Newcastle on Wednesday.

They also needed to steer away from viewing and handling matters of child sexual abuse as legal issues, and accept and embrace their importance from a wider, moral perspective, said the chief executive officer of the Australian Catholic Church’s Truth Justice and Healing Council, Francis Sullivan.

‘‘We are a bit lucky, I’m lucky, that I do this at this time because the new Pope, unlike previous popes, has made it abundantly clear in correspondence to Bishops and religious leaders of the world … where he expects full co-operation,’’ he said.

That meant he expected full co-operation with all of his annunciated policies, directions and processes, Mr Sullivan said.

‘‘What he is saying is there needs to be a zero tolerance culture around that and that where if can be demonstrated that religious leaders have dropped the ball, they need to be held to account.’’

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CANADA
The Daily Courier

The Canadian Press

REGINA – A Regina man who volunteered with Scouts Canada as well as with church groups is facing sex-related charges involving teenagers.

RCMP say two parents came forward last July after finding inappropriate text messages from an adult man to their teenage son.

An investigation turned up another alleged victim and RCMP believe there could be more.

Nathan Labatt, who is 24, is charged with sexual exploitation, invitation to sexual touching and possession of child pornography.

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CANADA
The Telegram

Barb Sweet
Published on February 25, 2015

CONTENT MAY DISTURB SOME READERS

The United Church is once again distancing itself from a former doctor and minister, denying liability for the latest sex abuse allegations against him stemming from his time in this province decades ago.

The church filed a statement of defence last week in the latest civil claim against Stephen James Collins, the first defendant in a Jane Doe case that dates back to the 1960s. The allegations have not been proven in court and her community cannot be named.

The statement of claim, filed late last year by Will Hiscock of Budden and Associates, contends the church failed to properly screen Collins or to properly supervise him and should have known there was “criminal behaviour against children.”

The woman claims she was abused in the 1960s when she participated in church activities such as choir and Sunday school led by Collins.

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CANADA
The StarPhoenix

BY ASHLEY MARTIN, LEADER-POST FEBRUARY 26, 2015

A Scout leader and church youth group volunteer is facing three charges related to the alleged sexual abuse of a youth.

Nat han Michael Labatt, 24, of Regina is charged with sexual exploitation, invitation to sexual touching and possession of child pornography following an RCMP investigation.

Through Scouts Canada, where Labatt worked with boys aged 14 to 17 as a Venturer leader, and the Roman Catholic and Ukrainian Catholic churches, he attended various youth camps, retreats and other events throughout Saskatchewan between 2009 and 2014.

RCMP believe there could be more potential victims, most likely male youths, and are asking anyone with information to come forward.

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NEW JERSEY
The Jersey Journal

By Michaelangelo Conte | The Jersey Journal
on February 26, 2015

It took the jury just over 30 minutes yesterday to convict a North Bergen church pastor of aggravated criminal sexual contact against a 13-year-old boy in 2012.

Gregorio Martinez, 47, who was described as a prophet and exorcist during testimony, was also convicted of child abuse and endangering the welfare of the child.

He was found guilty of touching the victim’s genital area and kissing him on the lips while inside the boy’s mother’s minivan in a Walmart parking lot in North Bergen on June 10, 2012.

The boy’s mother had gone into the store to buy diapers for her 4-year-old daughter, according to testimony.

At the time, Martinez was a deacon at Third Bethesda Pentecostal Church in Union City and knew the boy through the church, according to testimony. He is currently co-pastor at Elohim Church in North Bergen.

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MALTA
Times of Malta

Mgr Charles Scicluna will be officially named as Archbishop by the end of this week, according to sources.

The 55-year-old, who has served as Auxiliary Bishop since October 2012, will succeed Archbishop Emeritus Paul Cremona who stepped down last year for health reasons.

Mgr Scicluna’s appointment follows years of distinguished service at the Vatican where he was as Promoter of Justice in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

In that post he led the Church’s fight against sexual abuse by priests.

Earlier this month the Pope appointed him president of a Vatican College which will consider appeals moved before the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith related to serious offences by priests.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Rachel Browne
Social Affairs Reporter

The headmaster of the prestigious King’s School, Tim Hawkes, said he was not sorry about the way he handled the alleged sexual assault of a year 8 boy under his supervision at Knox Grammar School in the 1980s.

Dr Hawkes was housemaster at Knox Grammar’s MacNeil House when a masked man entered the building and assaulted the boy in the middle of the night late in 1988.

He told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse he did not call the police because he believed it was the responsibility of the then headmaster, Dr Ian Paterson.

Outside the commission, he said he was not sorry for his response.

“I have no regrets,” he said. “I have nothing to regret.”

Under cross-examination from counsel assisting the commission, David Lloyd, Dr Hawkes said he was unaware of a legal requirement for teachers to report abuse to the director-general of the Department of Family and Community Services.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

AAP

Former teachers at Knox Grammar school say mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse was never part of in-house training.

Timothy Hawkes was a senior boarding master at the Sydney private school in the late 1980s when a boy was sexually assaulted by a balaclava-wearing intruder.

Dr Hawkes, who’s now headmaster of Kings College Parramatta, told a national inquiry on Thursday he was unaware of mandatory reporting laws during his time in Knox. He was there from 1981 to 1989.

The children care and protection act 1987 became law in January 1988.

“I had no understanding of what my legal or proper obligations should have been in relation to reporting sexual assault on a child other than the requirement to immediately notify the headmaster,” he said.

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TEXAS
Dallas Observer

By Amy Silverstein Wed., Feb. 25 2015

The letter was anonymous, just like other warnings that came before it. In late January, it arrived in the mailboxes of advocates who work on behalf of Christian sex-abuse victims. For 26 pages, it offered a rambling defense of a place that shouldn’t need one — Prestonwood Baptist Church, a Plano mega-church with 37,000 members, three campuses, decades of mostly good publicity and a celebrity pastor named Jack Graham.

But for the last several years, the church has come under scrutiny from a small, vocal group of Christian critics for its handling of child sexual abuse. None of the critics has been more effective than Amy Smith, the daughter of a former Prestonwood deacon. Five years ago, Smith alerted a church in Mississippi that a pastor on its staff had been quietly accused of child molestation at Prestonwood decades before.

John Langworthy, a former youth minister at Prestonwood, resigned from the Mississippi church not long after Smith spoke up and soon faced criminal charges in that state. He pleaded guilty to molesting five boys between the ages of 6 and 13 in the early ’80s in Mississippi. He avoided prison time and is now registered as a child sex offender. Smith was widely credited for bringing Langworthy’s crimes to light and causing him to admit to “sexual indiscretions” from the pulpit of his Mississippi church. The case disappeared from headlines soon after, but Smith has stayed on Prestonwood’s case, holding rallies outside the church, seeking other victims and publicly pressuring Graham to open up about what he knew of Langworthy’s crimes.

Yet the anonymous letter that arrived this January insisted that Smith was a liar. Smith had an agenda, the author wrote, but didn’t say what it was. She had fooled countless activists, journalists and Prestonwood officials. “I am dead serious and committed to exposing Amy Smith’s many falsehoods and stopping her continued and relentless attacks upon Prestonwood and Jack Graham,” the author warned.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

Former Knox Grammar teacher Timothy Hawkes reveals ‘bizarre and extraordinary’ sex attack on a pupil was not reported to police… despite the headmaster knowing about it

By Sarah Carty for Daily Mail Australia and AAP

A ‘bizarre and extraordinary’ incident where a boy at an elite Sydney school was sexually assaulted by someone wearing a balaclava was reported to the headmaster but not police, a hearing has been told.

Timothy Hawkes, a former teacher at Knox Grammar School on Sydney’s north shore, was in charge of the boarding house where the incident happened in 1988.

On Thursday, Dr Hawkes, who is now headmaster of The Kings School, told a royal commission hearing he rang then headmaster Ian Paterson about 5am to report the incident which he described as ‘bizarre and extraordinary and extremely worrying and even frightening’.

It was not his role to ring police, he said, but he expected the headmaster would.

However, he was never interviewed by police nor, to his knowledge, were any of the boys.

Dr Hawkes said there was no history of intruders getting into the dorms.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Declan Brennan

An officer of the DPP has told the trial of a detective charged with forging a DPP letter that there was no file for a priest the detective was investigating for child abuse.

Wicklow detective Garda Catherine McGowan, aged 48, has pleaded not guilty to one count of forgery on January 15, 2009, at Bray Garda Station and two counts of using a false instrument at Bray Garda Station and at Harcourt Street Garda Station between June 21 and 22, 2011. The instrument is alleged to have been a letter from the office of the DPP, dated January 14, 2009.

Henry Matthews,of the DPP’s office, told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court his job was to assess Garda investigation files.

He told Alex Owens, prosecuting, that in 2011 he was asked to check his office filing systems for a file on a priest who Garda McGowan was investigating from 2007.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Telegraph

JANET FIFE-YEOMANS THE DAILY TELEGRAPH FEBRUARY 26, 2015

ONE of Knox Grammar’s religious teachers was found late at night in the school laundry in “suspicious” circumstances next to the boys’ dirty socks and jocks, the child sex abuse royal commission was told.

Former teacher Michael Probert yesterday said seeing house master Christopher Themistocles Fotis in the laundry had freaked him out.

The commission has heard that Mr Fotis, now 53, had been suspected as the man in a Knox tracksuit and a balaclava who hid under a student’s bed and sexually assaulted him. The man fled and the school never called in the police.

Mr Fotis later resigned from Knox after he was caught masturbating in his car outside the school but the headmaster, Dr Ian Paterson, still gave him a glowing reference, the commission was told.

The commission is investigating whether the elite Wahroonga school covered up 33 years of sex abuse of students by five teachers who were criminally charged and another three who were not, including Mr Fotis.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

FEBRUARY 26, 2015

Ean Higgins
Reporter
Sydney

AN arrest warrant has been issued for the suspected “Balaclava Man”, the Knox Grammar teacher accused of dressing in a school tracksuit and balaclava, and sexually molesting a student as he slept in a school dormitory.

David Lloyd, the counsel assisting the Royal Commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse this morning informed the commission that the warrant had been issued for Christopher Fotis, who had been a resident master at the boarding house at the time of the incident in 1988.

Mr Lloyd told the inquiry Fotis had failed to appear.

“In the wake of Mr Fotis’ failure to answer the summons issued on him by the Royal Commission, the Royal Commission has issued a warrant for his arrest,” Mr Lloyd said.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

February 26, 2015

Rachel Browne
Social Affairs Reporter

When a masked man entered a boarding house at Knox Grammar School and sexually assaulted a year 8 student in his bed, the then housemaster Timothy Hawkes fully expected the police to be notified.

Dr Hawkes, now headmaster of the Kings School, told a royal commission that he never saw police at the school and, to his knowledge, the victim and witnesses were never interviewed.

He said he did not see it as his responsibility to report the matter to the police, instead leaving it in the hands of the then headmaster, Dr Ian Paterson.

“I was comfortable with the fact we had a highly experienced headmaster,” he said.

“I had every confidence that proper protocols would have been followed. I was not aware of what those particular protocols would have been.”

Under cross-examination by counsel assisting the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Dr Hawkes said he was unaware of mandatory reporting laws regarding child sexual abuse at the time of the so-called “balaclava man” incident in late 1988.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Telegraph

JANET FIFE-YEOMANS NEWS LIMITED FEBRUARY 26, 2015

A WARRANT has been issued for the arrest of one of Knox Grammar’s teachers who has failed to turn up to the child sex abuse royal commission.

A former religious education teacher Christopher Themistocles Fotis, 52, was due to give evidence at the Sydney hearing on Tuesday but failed to turn up and has not been able to be contacted.

Former students claim that Fotis wore a Knox tracksuit and balaclava, hid under a student’s bed and groped the student in late 1988 or early 1989.

He was also found alone in the pitch black in the school’s laundry one night close to the dirty socks and jocks of the pupils and resigned some months later after he was caught by police masturbating in his car outside the elite school.

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

A FORMER teacher at Sydney’s prestigious Knox Grammar school has failed to appear at a royal commission into child abuse.

The commission has issued a warrant for the arrest of Christopher Fotis, who was due to give evidence on Tuesday.

A public hearing this week has heard disturbing claims of abuse at Knox, which happened in the 1970s and 80s. Boys at one of Australia’s most exclusive schools were allegedly shown pornography, given alcohol and groomed for sex by a number of teachers at the school.

On Thursday David Lloyd, counsel advising the commission, said police were searching for Fotis and if he was found he would be brought to the commission.

Fotis was never charged with offences at Knox but was jailed in Melbourne for sexual abuse offences at a school there after his time at Knox, in Wahroonga on Sydney’s north shore.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian Jewish News

SHUL presidents and rabbis came together on Tuesday night to improve the protection of children at synagogues across Sydney.

More than 20 representatives from Orthodox synagogues attended the meeting at Jewish House and pledged to offer better training to rabbis and communal leaders, and to implement an accreditation process for shuls.

“A group of people will be set up by the community to work with every synagogue and to make sure they are compliant when it comes to policy, procedures for dealing with child sexual abuse, protocols and policies to report any allegation of abuse, signage in the synagogue, and proper communication with members,” Jewish House’s Rabbi Mendel Kastel (pictured) told The AJN.

“While almost all synagogues already have these policies in place, this is a more formal way to raise the standards and ensure that we can all work together, share resources and ensure greater accountability,” Rabbi Kastel said.

The training for rabbis will begin next week when the Rabbinical Council of NSW holds a session with Dr Cathy Kezelman, who was made a Member of the Order of Australia last month for her advocacy for survivors of child abuse.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago

February 25, 2015

The Archdiocese of Chicago has learned that Fr. Clovis Javier Vilchez-Parra, Associate Pastor at Misión San Juan Diego in Arlington Heights, was charged with possession and reproduction of child pornography on February 24, 2015. The Archdiocese is grateful for the vigilance law enforcement exercises in the protection of children. The exploitation of any child is a crime and a sin that deserves swift attention by all responsible adults.

Based on this information pertaining to Fr. Clovis Javier Vilchez-Parra, Archbishop Blase J. Cupich has accepted the recommendation of the Independent Review Board that Fr. Vilchez-Parra be withdrawn from ministry pending the resolution of this matter.

Under our justice system, Fr. Vilchez-Parra is innocent until proven guilty. The Church stands ready to cooperate fully with the civil authorities as part of our commitment to the safety of children.

The Archdiocese encourages anyone who has been sexually abused by a priest, deacon, religious, lay employee or volunteer, to come forward to the civil authorities or the Archdiocese. Complete information about reporting sexual abuse can be found on the Archdiocesan website under Protecting Children at www.archchicago.org or by calling the Office for Child Abuse Investigations and Review, 312-534-5205 or 1-800-994-6200, or the Office of Assistance Ministry, 312-534-8267 or toll-free at 866-517-4528.

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ILLINOIS
WICS

February 25, 2015

ROLLING MEADOWS, Ill. (AP) — A suburban Chicago Catholic priest has been ordered held on $175,000 bond after being charged with felony possession and reproduction of child pornography.

Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez’s office announced the charges on Wednesday against 34-year-old Clovis Vilchez-Parra, associate pastor at the Mission San Juan Diego Catholic Church in suburban Arlington Heights.

The Archdiocese of Chicago says that Archbishop Blase Cupich (BLAYZ’ SOO;-pitch) has removed Vilchez-Parra from ministry while the case goes forward. The archdiocese says it’s “ready to cooperate fully” with law enforcement authorities.

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COLORADO/MICHIGAN
TheDenverChannel

A Catholic priest who worked at a Detroit high school faces at least 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to a child pornography charge.

The Rev. Richard Kurtz appeared in Detroit federal court Wednesday and admitted transporting child porn to Chicago in 2011.

Investigators say that Kurtz also secretly recorded video of hockey players while they changed clothes in the late 1990s. They were students at University of Detroit Jesuit High School, where he was a chemistry teacher for years.

Other priests found the video among his possessions after Kurtz was charged with sexually assaulting a student on a trip to Colorado. The sexual assault in Colorado happened in 2001, deputies said.

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TEXAS
Plano Star Courier

State Senator Van Taylor has filed Senate Bill 701, which would remove the statute of limitations for felony indictments of sexual crimes against a child. Taylor has already filed Senate Bill 113, which would remove the statute of limitations for civil suits of such crimes.

“Crimes against children are vile and reprehensible,” Taylor said in a press release. “Because of the nature of the crimes and the young age of the victims, children of sexual abuse often do not come forward until after the statute of limitations have passed. In these circumstances, the perpetrator remains at-large and without penalty for some of society’s most horrid crimes. My legislation would eliminate the statute of limitations for crimes involving the sexual abuse of a child, allowing victims the means to pursue their perpetrator whenever they are ready.”

Senator Taylor’s legislation would indefinitely extend the statute of limitations for felony indictments for employing, authorizing or inducting a child younger than 18 years of age to engage in sexual conduct or sexual performance. This extends the statute of limitations for felony indictments from its current authorization, which is 20 years following the 18th birthday of the victim.

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NEW JERSEY
The Jersey Journal

By Michaelangelo Conte | The Jersey Journal
on February 25, 2015

JERSEY CITY — During closing arguments today in the trial of a church deacon accused of sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy, the prosecution said the victim knew his alleged molester as a prophet and exorcist, and believed his mother thought the alleged sexual contact was OK with her.

“There was a lot of testimony about him ‘delivering’ people and exorcisms and removing demons and evil spirits from people,” Hudson County Assistant Prosecutor Linda Claude-Oben said today during summations in the trial of Gregorio Martinez, 47, of Jersey City.

“This defendant, this prophet who could take out demons, ask yourself if (the victim) could have done something. Ask yourself if he would be confused and scared and not know what to do,” she added.

Martinez is charged with aggravated criminal sexual contact, child abuse and endangering the welfare of the 13-year-old in a car in a Walmart parking lot in North Bergen on June 10, 2012, officials said. At the time, he was a deacon at Third Bethesda Pentecostal Church in Union City, according to testimony.

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by Chiara Vasarri and Flavia Rotondi
ROME
Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) — Father Massimo Cavallo jumped at the chance to go back to school after struggling with maintenance work, suppliers and taxes as the manager of a Catholic students’ dormitory in Rome.

The 34-year-old is one of 26 attendees of a pastoral management course inaugurated on Feb. 16 at the Pontifical Lateran University for those who manage financial and human resources in parishes, dioceses and other organizations affiliated with the Catholic Church. The 15-month course covers topics such as strategic communication, business ethics and creative problem-solving.

The effort is in line with the Holy See’s attempt to close a budget shortfall and comes as Italy strives to emerge from the longest recession since World War II. Pope Francis is also trying to boost efficiency and clean up finances after scandals involving the Vatican Bank and the Holy See’s administrative body APSA, which manages real estate and financial holdings of the world’s smallest state.

“Making ends meet is not easy,” Cavallo said in an interview outside his office filled with stacks of theology books, pictures of him shaking hands with Pope Francis and his two predecessors, a desktop PC and a calculator.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Die Welt

[“Blows until the children went to the ground”]

Der Chor der Regensburger Domspatzen ist weltberühmt. Doch in seinem Internat spielten sich bis weit in die 90er-Jahre hinein Gewaltexzesse gegen Schüler ab. Was wusste Chorleiter Georg Ratzinger?

“Liebe Eltern, mir geht es gut, wie geht es euch?” Mit dieser Floskel mussten Schüler am Internat des Domspatzen-Chores in der Vorschule in Etterzhausen und später Pielenhofen (Landkreis Regensburg) regelmäßig Briefe an ihre Eltern beginnen. Die Briefe wurden zensiert – von Priestern und kirchlichen Mitarbeitern, die im Alltag die Dritt- und Viertklässler prügelten, was das Zeug hielt.

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VATICAN CITY
Newsmax

Wednesday, 25 Feb 2015

A Vatican department allegedly intercepted over a hundred copies of a new book written by five cardinals to prevent it being read by the majority of participants of a synod last October called by Pope Francis.

“Remaining in the Truth of Christ,” a commercially successful book reaffirming Catholic teaching on marriage and the family, was mailed to all the synod fathers in the Paul VI Hall, where the meeting was taking place.

Reliable and high level sources allege the head of secretariat of the synod of bishops, Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, ordered they be intercepted because they would “interfere with the synod.”

A source told me that Baldisseri was “furious” the book had been mailed to the participants and ordered staff at the Vatican post office to ensure they did not reach the Paul VI Hall.

Those responsible for mailing the books meticulously tried to avoid interception, ensuring the copies were sent through the proper channels within the Italian and Vatican postal systems. The synod secretariat nevertheless claims they were mailed “irregularly,” without going through the Vatican post office, and so had a right to intercept them.

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ILLINOIS
CLTV

ROLLING MEADOWS, Ill. — A Cook County judge set bail at $175,000 for a Catholic priest who is facing child pornography charges.

Rev. Clovis Javier Vilchez-Parra, 34, appeared for a bond hearing today at the Rolling Meadows courthouse.

He is charged with reproduction of child pornography and felony possession of child pornography.

He is an associate pastor at the Mission San Juan Diego Catholic church in Arlington Heights.

The charges were filed against Rev. Vilchez-Parra following an investigation by the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Internet Crimes Against Children task force.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Daily Times

By Michael P. Rellahan, mrellahan@dailylocal.com, @ChescoCourt
POSTED: 02/25/15

PHILADELPHIA >> The FBI has arrested and charged the former SS. Simon and Jude parish priest who was accused last year by local authorities of sending and receiving child pornography on a popular social media site, on which he pretend to be a 16-year-old girl.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Philadelphia said Tuesday that charges had been brought against Mark Haynes, 55, of Egg Harbor, N.J., on Friday. He was detained on Monday pending a bail hearing in federal court next Tuesday. Haynes previously served parishes in Delaware County. Haynes served at St. Pius X parish in Marple from 2001 to 2005, Our Lady of Perpetual Help in the Morton section of Ridley Township from 2005 to 2009, and at Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Havertown section of Haverford from 2009 to 2013.

Haynes face charges of enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity, distribution of child pornography, and possession of child pornography. The federal complaint against Haynes adopts much of what was laid out by Chester County authorities when they charged him last October with similar crimes.

The investigation began when county detectives received a tip about pornographic images that were being posted from an Instagram account in the name of “Katie.” They tracked that to a computer that was registered to a Simon and Jude email account, officials said.

When Haynes was confronted by detectives in October, he confessed to having child pornography on his computer, and of sending out images to others. He also stated that he had in early 2010 communicated with a young girl by using the name “Katie Caponetti,” and that he and the girl discussed sexual matters over the Internet.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

Pope Francis has made another significant international misstep, in addition to the one that led to his apparent recent “dressing down” by “no-nonsense” German Chancellor Merkel. Merkel apparently expressed her concern privately for Francis’ seemingly indirect support of Russia’s President Putin’s Ukraine invasion, as well likely on some of Francis’ shortcomings on protecting children and respecting women and women’s reproductive rights. As the head of the pope’s major “donor country”, when Angela speaks, Francis evidently listens.

This time the pope, in effect, insulted Mexicans, including many Mexican American voters, with his unwarranted “Mexicanization slur” revealing the pope’s view of Mexico. Francis reportedly wrote: “Hopefully we’re in time to avoid the Mexicanization. I was talking to some Mexican bishops and it’s a terrible situation, ,,, “. The pope was apparently referring privately, negatively and gratuitously to the risk of Mexican-style drug violence, and the related sexual abuse of children and women, reaching Argentina.

The Vatican defensively reacted to the unexpected disclosure of the pope’s insult by saying reportedly, in pertinent part, that the “pope had absolutely no intention of offending the feelings of the Mexican people, … . The expression ‘avoiding Mexicanization’ was used by the pope in a strictly private and informal email, … ” ! (emphasis mine).

A spokesman for the Archdiocese of Mexico reportedly said “… The pope is very well informed about Mexico’s situation … ” Perhaps, but the pope seems less well informed about the risks of e-mail records.

So? If anything, private e-mails likely reflect more accurately the pope’s real views as compared the endless stream of pious pontifications that the pope’s publicists pump out, too often parroted automatically by opportunistic and conflicted journalists. Once again, the pope is caught practicing “revisionism”. Changing his stated positions, seemingly at times, as often as the weather changes, depending on the latest direction of the wind, it appears.

More than 80 percent of Mexicans are Catholic, as are many Mexican American voters that the pope and his US bishops appear eagerly to want to have vote next year for a “low tax” US Republican President (likely Jeb Bush with his Mexico born wife).

Of course, this drug violence also entails the sexual abuse of children, including “rent boys”, a Latin American subject that Francis neglects too often, especially as it relates to Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Chile, Puerto Rico, Honduras, Peru, and many other predominately Catholic countries, as well as to Latino neighborhoods of US cities like Los Angeles.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Rarely is the concept of “supply and demand” cited as a contributing factor to the church’s on-going clergy sex abuse and cover up crisis. But it should be.

A university professor writes in the National Catholic Reporter today: “Fewer than 26,265 diocesan priests remain in the U.S. today and of them, only 68 percent — about 17,900 — are still in active ministry. Only about one-third as many new priests are being ordained each year to make up for the ones who are retiring, dying or leaving active ministry.”

“Dioceses now have one retired priest for every two active priests, and half of all priests in active ministry are over the age of 60. Half of all priests currently in active ministry also expect to retire by 2019.”

[National Catholic Reporter]

Yet the number of Catholics in the US continues to climb.

Wonder why bishops still cling to and shield sexually troubled seminarians and priests? Now more than ever, bishops desperately need clerics. So they must be very tempted to give seminarians and priests every possible “benefit of the doubt” and “second chances.”

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IRELAND
Breaking News

25/02/2015

An officer of the Director of Public Prosecutions has told the trial of a detective charged with forging a DPP letter that there was no file for a priest the detective was investigating for child abuse.

Wicklow detective Garda Catherine McGowan (aged 48), who is based at Bray Garda Station, has pleaded not guilty to one count of forgery on January 15, 2009 at Bray Garda Station and two counts of using a false instrument at Bray Garda Station and at Harcourt Street Garda Station between June 21 and 22, 2011.

The instrument is alleged to have been a letter from the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), dated January 14, 2009.

On day three of the trial, Henry Matthews, a professional officer in the DPP’s office, told the jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that his job was to assess garda investigation files and make decisions on whether or not to prosecute the cases.

He told Alex Owens SC, prosecuting, that in 2011 he was asked to check his office filing systems for a file for a priest who Gda McGowan was investigating from 2007 after a Wicklow woman made an allegation of sexual assault against him.

The 2011 investigation of Gda McGowan’s handling of this allegation was prompted by the publication of the Murphy Report which investigated clerical sexual abuse in the Dublin area.

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
WGN

A Catholic priest who is facing child pornography charges is scheduled to appear for a bond hearing today at the Rolling Meadows courthouse.

Rev. Clovis Javier Vilchez-Parra, 34, is charged with reproduction of child pornography and felony possession of child pornography.

He is an associate pastor at the Mission San Juan Diego Catholic church in Arlington Heights.

The charges were filed against Rev. Vilchez-Parra following an investigation by the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Internet Crimes Against Children task force.

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.

CALIFORNIA
SFGate

By Kevin Fagan Updated 8:20 am, Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Under pressure from parents, students and staffers at the San Francisco Catholic Archdiocese’s schools, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone said Tuesday that he is reaxamining strict guidelines he proposed for teachers that would require them to reject homosexuality, use of contraception and other “evil” behavior.

Cordileone also said he is dropping an effort to designate high school teachers as “ministers,” which, under a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, would have removed government-mandated employee protections by placing them solely under church control.

Cordileone ignited a political firestorm this month when he told the nearly 500 people working in archdiocese high schools that he wanted them to “affirm and believe” strict morality clauses in an updated faculty handbook. Many teachers, parents and students objected, saying they interpreted the clauses to mean staffers could be fired for having homosexual relations, using birth control, masturbating or engaging in other actions labeled as “gravely” or “intrinsically” evil.

In an hour-long meeting Tuesday with The Chronicle’s editorial board, Cordileone said he is forming a committee of theology teachers from the archdiocese’s four high schools to go over his proposed guidelines. The committee, he said, will “recommend to me an expanded draft” and “adjust the language to make the statements more readily understandable to a wider leadership.”

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VIRGINIA
WHSV

HARRISONBURG, Va. (WHSV) — A former children’s pastor at a Rockingham County church pleaded guilty Tuesday in Rockingham County Circuit Court.

Leonard “Sonny” Layman pleaded guilty to two felony counts of aggravated sexual battery and one felony count of taken indecent liberties with a child.

A judge sentenced him to four years in prison.

Layman was a youth pastor at Spring Creek Church of the Nazarene, but was removed from his duties when the allegations surfaced. Church leaders say the were not aware of the allegations until he was arrested.

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
Daily Herald

An Arlington Heights Catholic priest is facing child pornography charges.

Clovis Vilchez-Parra, 34, is scheduled to appear in bond court today.

He was charged with possession of child pornography and reproduction of child pornography following an investigation by Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

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.

MAINE
Bangor Daily News

By Ryan McLaughlin, BDN Staff
Posted Feb. 23, 2015

PORTLAND, Maine — Fr. Joseph W. Cahill, pastor of the Our Lady of the Snows Parish, which includes St. Anne Church of Dexter, St. Thomas Aquinas Church of Dover-Foxcroft and St. Francis Xavier and Paul the Apostle Church of Milo, along with St. Agnes Parish in Pittsfield, has resigned, according to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland.

Bishop Roper Deeley has approved Cahill’s request to step down, the diocese announced in a statement Monday.

Cahill, who has been pastor of the parishes since July 2013, made the request as the result of a boundary violation, which did not involve a minor or any illegal activity.

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.

MAINE
Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland

PORTLAND—Bishop Robert P. Deeley has approved the request of Fr. Joseph W. Cahill to step down as the pastor of both Our Lady of the Snows Parish (St. Anne Church, Dexter; St. Thomas Aquinas Church, Dover-Foxcroft; SS Francis Xavier & Paul the Apostle Church, Milo) and St. Agnes Parish in Pittsfield in order to take part in a period of prayer, reflection, and renewal before accepting a new assignment.

Fr. Cahill, who has served as pastor of the parishes since July 1, 2013, made the request as the result of a boundary violation. The violation did not involve a minor nor any illegal activity.

Bishop Deeley is grateful to Fr. Robert Gaudreau, a native of Rhode Island and a priest of the Archdiocese of Sherbrooke, Quebec, for accepting to serve as temporary parochial vicar of Our Lady of the Snows Parish and St. Agnes Parish, effective immediately and until such time as a new pastor can be named. Fr. Mark Nolette will continue to serve as parochial vicar of the two parishes.

During this time of transition, Bishop Deeley asks for prayers for Fr. Cahill as well as for the clergy, staff, and parishioners at Our Lady of the Snows and St. Agnes.

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MAINE
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Feb. 25

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 )

Maine parishioners deserve more details than they’re getting from their bishop about a priest who reportedly committed a “boundary violation.”

[Portland diocese]

A short, vague statement on the Portland diocesan website notes that Fr. Joseph W. Cahill has asked to step down as the pastor of both Our Lady of the Snows Parish (St. Anne Church, Dexter; St. Thomas Aquinas Church, Dover-Foxcroft; SS Francis Xavier & Paul the Apostle Church, Milo) “as the result of a boundary violation. . .that did not involve a minor nor any illegal activity.”

We find it hard to believe Bishop Robert P. Deeley is being fully honest here.

He refuses to even say what a “boundary violation” is, much less disclose that Fr. Cahill did. Did he sexually exploit adult parishioners who sought counseling from him? Was he caught giving backrubs to youngsters who had just turned 18? Given the Catholic church’s long, sordid, widespread and well-documented history of clergy committing and concealing sexual crimes and misdeeds, we believe skepticism is appropriate and complacency is dangerous.

Bishops often talk of persuading parishioners to trust them again. Yet bishops act in ways that undermine trust in them.

Deeley is doing what bishops have done for decades: disclosing the absolute bare minimum and hoping that attention will soon fade and everyone just moves on.

He hopes that parents, parishioners and the public will just assume that Catholic officials are acting properly with Fr. Cahill. We strongly doubt that this is true.

We urge anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes or misdeeds or cover ups in Maine – involving Cahill or other clerics – to speak up, get help, expose wrongdoers, protect others and start healing.

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MICHIGAN
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Feb. 25

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 )

A Detroit Jesuit priest may plead guilty today to “secretly recording” teenagers in a locker room. Sadly, he has already pled guilty to sexually assaulting a child in Colorado. The question now is: What will Detroit’s archbishop do to find and help others he may have hurt?

[WILX]

If history is any guide, we suspect that Archbishop Allen Vignernon will do little or nothing.

Time and time again, for decades, when priests are charged with sex crimes, Catholic officials do little or nothing to help law enforcement prosecute these criminals. And often, these priests get top-notch defense lawyers, exploit legal technicalities, escape with light consequences or get off completely, and go on to hurt others.

Vigneron could chart a new course here and make a real difference. He could use his hundreds of church bulletins, parish websites and pulpits to seek out others who may have been harmed by Fr. Kurtz. He could write to all former University of Detroit Jesuit High School students and staff, begging anyone who saw, suspected or suffered crimes by Fr. Kurtz to call 911. He could assure his flock that cooperating with law enforcement is the right thing to do. He could help them understand that the church becomes safer and stronger when church staff and employees don’t ‘clam up’ when sex scandals emerge. And he could potentially make it easier and quicker for secular authorities to protect children by convicting Fr. Kurtz and making sure he gets a long sentence. All it takes is a little courage and effort by Vigneron.

Will Vigneron rise to the occasion and prove, by his actions, that he’s not like the vast majority of ‘bare minimum’ bishops who passively sit back and do nothing, leaving the full burden of safeguarding kids from a predator falls on police, prosecutors and victims?

We doubt it but we’d be thrilled to be proven wrong.

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
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Feb. 25

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 )

A Catholic priest who was arrested in Chicago and was at Loyola University may plead guilty today in Detroit to “secretly recording” teenagers in a locker room there.

(NOTE: This is a different priest than the one just arrested on child porn charges in Arlington Heights.)

Sadly, the priest, Fr. Richard James Kurtz, pled guilty earlier to sexually assaulting a child in Colorado. The question now is: What will Chicago’s archbishop do to find and help others he may have hurt?

[WILX]

If history is any guide, we suspect that Archbishop Blasé Cupich will do little or nothing. And (just like we are doing with in the new case of accused Arlington Heights sex offender Fr. Clovis Vilchez-Parra) we beg Cupich to get out from behind his desk, overrule his timid lawyers, and act like a real shepherd. We beg him to help law enforcement get Fr. Kurtz locked up for as long as possible by helping to bring forward other victims, witnesses and whistleblowers.

Imagine Cupich holding a news conference at Loyola and saying “Look, for centuries, our church hierarchy has enabled sex offender clergy to escape prosecution. I can’t un-do this awful history. But I can try right now to help make sure that Fr. Kurtz is successfully prosecuted and kept away from kids. That’s why I’m here: to insist that you call law enforcement if you saw, suspected or suffered crimes by 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.

ILLINOIS
Chicago Sun-Times

A northwest suburban priest will appear in bond court Wednesday facing charges of child pornography.

Clovis Vilchez-Parra, 34, is charged with reproduction of child pornography and possession of child pornography, according to a statement from the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.

Vilchez-Parra is an associate pastor at the Mission San Juan Diego Catholic Church in Arlington Heights, according to the statement.

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
Chicago Tribune

By Chicago Tribune staff

A priest assigned to a Catholic church in Arlington Heights is facing child pornography charges, authorities said.

Clovis Vilchez-Parra, 34, was charged with reproduction of child pornography and possession of child pornography (Class 2 felony) following an investigation by Cook County state’s attorney’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

Vilchez-Parra is an associate pastor at the Mission San Juan Diego Catholic Church in Arlington Heights.

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ILLINOIS
WGEM

ROLLING MEADOWS, Ill. (AP) – Cook County prosecutors say a Catholic priest is charged with felony possession and reproduction of child pornography.

Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez’s office said Wednesday morning that 34-year-old Clovis Vilchez-Parra will be in bond court on charged of reproduction of child pornography and possession of child pornography. Vilchez-Parra is associate pastor at the Mission San Juan Diego Catholic Church in Arlington Heights.

Prosecutors said the charges were filed after an investigation by the office’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

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ROME
National Catholic Register

by EDWARD PENTIN 02/24/2015

ROME — To say that clerical celibacy can lead to sex abuse is “much too simplistic,” because most abuse happens in the family, where the majority of the perpetrators are married men or other family members, a psychiatrist member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors said.

In an interview with the Register Feb. 16, Baroness Sheila Hollins said any link between priestly celibacy and sex abuse is “complicated, and I think it would be much too simplistic to say celibacy is the cause of it, because in fact 80% of abuse happens in the family, where perpetrators are mostly going to be married men, but sometimes, of course, they may be other family members.”
She added that to end clerical celibacy in the hope it would “in some way change this is to miss the point of it.”

Hollins’ comments follow remarks made by Peter Saunders, a clerical-abuse survivor, who told a Vatican press conference Feb. 7 that despite a common perception clerical celibacy can lead to sex abuse of minors, most perpetrators likely had problems before entering the seminary.

“People don’t enter the priesthood and become child abusers; I don’t think that’s the case,” Saunders said. “I think that they had serious issues before entering holy orders.”

Although he said “far too many” clerics have committed sexual abuse of minors, “the vast majority of priests and religious will never hurt a child. I think it’s important to acknowledge that.” Saunders, who also sits on the 17-member commission, said that the term “pedophile” is overused and that the priests who abused him, rather than having any illness, “were very lonely.”

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MALTA
Malta Today

Matthew Vella 25 February 2015

Mgr Charles Scicluna, 55, will be appointed Archbishop by the end of this week, according to sources.

A Curia source confirmed that the Auxiliary Bishop, who was Apostolic Administrator since the resignation of Archbishop Emeritus Paul Cremona in 2014, will take his place.

Opposition leader tweeted his heartfelt congratulations to the vocal bishop, who took a vocal stand against gay adoption at a time when the Church was taking a back seat from confronting political issues.

Scicluna’s appointment follows years of service at the Vatican where he was as Promoter of Justice in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, by the side of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who became Pope Benedict XVI.

He was later tasked with the Church’s fight against sexual abuse by priests.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Die Erste Eslarner Zeitung

[As reported yesterday, almost all media in the Federal Republic of Germany, the Regensburg Diocese wants to pay to victims of sexual violence from the former school for the boarding of the cathedral choir in Etterzhausen / Pielenhofen an amount of * 2.500 € in recognition of their at that time the sufferer.]

Wie gestern nahezu alle Medien in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland berichteten, will die Diözese Regensburg den Opfern sexueller Gewalt aus der früheren Vorschule des Internats der Regensburger Domspatzen in Etterzhausen/Pielenhofen nun einen Betrag von *2.500.– Euro als Anerkennung für deren damaliges Leid zahlen.

Fast fünf Jahre, einige wie mir meinen haarsträubende Briefe der Diözese an manche dieser leidgeprägten Personen, hat es nun gebraucht, bis nach der Dokumentation vom 07. Januar 2015

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ROM/DEUTSCHLAND
Kirchen Site

[Zollner: German church is a model in abuse prevention
Rome. The head of the Child Protection Centre at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, Hans Zollner, said the Catholic Church in Germany has a rapid build-up of measures to guard against abuse. In no other country in the church had built up such a structure in such a short time, Zollner said.]

Rom. Der Leiter des Kinderschutzzentrums an der Päpstlichen Universität Gregoriana in Rom, Hans Zollner, bescheinigt der katholischen Kirche in Deutschland einen zügigen Aufbau von Maßnahmen zum Schutz vor Missbrauch. In keinem anderen Land habe die Kirche eine solche Struktur in so kurzer Zeit aufgebaut, sagte Zollner.

In Irland, Großbritannien, den Niederlanden und in Belgien sei ebenfalls viel zum Schutz vor Missbrauch passiert, in Mittel- und Osteuropa wachse die Aufmerksamkeit. Dagegen sei das Thema in den Ortskirchen in Südeuropa kaum präsent. In Afrika und Asien sei es nach wie vor tabu.

Der aus Regensburg stammende Jesuit Zollner gehört der vatikanischen Kinderschutz-Kommission an. Papst Franziskus hatte sie im vergangenen März gegründet, um ein wirksameres Vorgehen gegen sexuellen Missbrauch in der Kirche zu entwickeln.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian Jewish News

RABBI Avrohom Glick stepped down from all positions associated with Melbourne’s Yeshivah Centre last week, including his spot on the Vaad Ruchni (spiritual council) which was personally given to him by the Rebbe’s emissary to Melbourne Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Groner.

Rabbi Glick was principal of Yeshivah College from 1986-2007, during which time there were a number of incidents of child sexual abuse which were not reported to the police.

“At the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse at Yeshivah Centre, I offered a personal and unconditional apology to the victims and explained the various issues and factors involved in whether or not I should resign from the Vaad Ruchni of Yeshivah Centre,” Rabbi Glick said in an email to the community.

At the Commission he stated he would not resign from the council, but following further discussion with his peers, Rabbi Glick changed his mind last week.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

Paedophile porn rings selling live streams of rape involving children as young as six over Skype in return for Bitcoins, warns Europol

By JOHN HALL FOR MAILONLINE

Hi-tech criminals are increasingly selling live streams of child rape over legitimate chat sites and apps such as Skype for hard-to-trace virtual currencies like Bitcoin, Europol has warned.

‘Criminals that sexually exploit children online are becoming more entrepreneurial with technological developments and are profiting financially,’ Europe’s policing agency said in a special report released today on the commercial sexual exploitation of children online.

Compiled by Europol’s EC3 cybercrime centre, together with Eurojust, non-governmental organisations and credit card and online giants such as Google and Microsoft, the report paints a disturbing picture of rising online child abuse.

The sale of child abuse live streams over legitimate chat sites or video chat apps is much harder to trace than when the abuse is sold from a website.

‘The research shows that the live streaming of abuse for payment is no longer an emerging trend but an established reality,’ the report said.

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MICHIGAN
WILX

DETROIT (AP) — A Catholic priest charged with secretly recording high school hockey players in the locker room is returning to Detroit federal court for a likely guilty plea.

The Rev. Richard Kurtz is charged with producing, possessing and transporting child pornography. He was a teacher years ago at University of Detroit Jesuit High School. The government says he went into the locker room and secretly recorded video of hockey players as they changed clothes in the late 1990s.

Kurtz is returning to court on Wednesday for a change-of-plea hearing.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Michael O’Regan

Wed, Feb 25, 2015

There was a mistaken public perception that women referred to the Magdalene laundries were mainly lone parents, Minister of State for Equality Aodhán Ó Ríordáin told the Seanad.

“This perception does not reflect the reality in most cases,’’ he said.

He said the McAleese report found placements of girls or women in the laundries were made for a very wide range of reasons.

“It is hard to credit nowadays that some cases of referrals were seen as a means of providing for girls or women with physical disabilities, or with mental or psychiatric illness,’’ Mr Ó Ríordáin added.

“Some had intellectual disabilities and special needs, while others were referred because of advanced age.’’

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MINNESOTA
KARE

Associated Press

ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis plans to seek permission from a bankruptcy trustee to possibly sell properties to help pay creditors.

Chief financial officer Tom Mertens told a creditors’ committee meeting of the archdiocese’s plan Tuesday. Included are the chancery office and three other properties.

After the meeting, Mertens told Minnesota Public Radio News the plan is to sell the four properties, assuming the offer price is adequate.

Mertens says the archdiocese will seek permission to sell a property in Northfield and three St. Paul buildings, including the chancery. He says the archdiocese will consider leasing office space elsewhere.

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MINNESOTA
KAAL

[with video]

By: Stephen Tellier

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is exploring the possibility of selling four key church properties—a move that was revealed during a bankruptcy proceeding on Tuesday afternoon.

Three of the buildings in question are within walking distance from the Cathedral of St. Paul, and house most, if not all, archdiocese staff, as well as the Archbishop’s own residence. But the church could offload them as it deals with the cost of claims connected to a slew of clergy sex abuse lawsuits.

“I’m very sad, but I’m not surprised, because we are looking at some massive, massive liabilities on the part of the Archdiocese,” said Dr. Charles Reid, a law professor at the University of St. Thomas and an expert on the Catholic Church.

Reid said the properties are large assets with historic value—and prime real estate as well, all overlooking downtown St. Paul.

In its bankruptcy filing last month, the Archdiocese estimated the current value of all four properties it could potentially sell: The chancery building was valued at $6.3 million, the Hayden Center at $2.4 million, and the Dayton Building at $1.4 million. Add in a fourth property in Northfield, and the total jumps to $10.5 million.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Madeleine Baran Feb 24, 2015

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis plans to sell its chancery office and three other properties to help pay creditors in bankruptcy, chief financial officer Tom Mertens told a creditors’ committee meeting Tuesday.

“Our plan would be that we would sell these four properties assuming that the offer price is adequate,” Mertens said in an interview after the meeting.

Mertens said the archdiocese will ask a bankruptcy trustee for permission to sell a property in Northfield and three St. Paul buildings: The chancery offices on Summit Avenue, the Msgr. Ambrose Hayden Center on Kellogg Boulevard and the Dayton Building.

Many of the archdiocese’s employees work in the chancery or the Hayden Center. Archbishop John Nienstedt lives in the chancery, which is across the street from the Cathedral of St. Paul, the largest and best-known landmark in the Twin Cities archdiocese.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
The Daily Beast

Batya Ungar-Sargon

Kesher Israel’s congregation was rocked by a peeping tom scandal involving its prominent rabbi of two decades. This is how they worked to restore trust in the synagogue before it was too late.

A rabbi accused of creating his own live porn from the ritual bathing of women converting to Orthodox Judaism pled guilty to 52 counts of misdemeanor voyeurism in Washington D.C. last week. Rabbi Barry Freundel was the rabbi of the prominent Orthodox Synagogue Kesher until a woman noticed him fiddling with a clock radio positioned in the changing area of the ritual bath known as a Mikvah.

Kesher’s response was swift and thorough, a model for an institution amidst immediate crisis: They called the police, and the Rabbi was investigated and quickly fired.

Cameras were found in the clock radio, as well as in a tissue box, and a table-top fan.

It is suspected that Freundel, 63, spied on over 150 women, but only 52 cases fell within the statute of limitations for the crime, which is three years. Prosecutors said 52 women were recorded nude or partially nude on 25 different dates from March 2012 to September 2014. Sentencing will occur on March 15. The rabbi faces up to 52 years in prison—one for every count—as well as thousands of dollars in fines. He is also facing civil suits.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Hertfordshire Mercury

Arrests have been made as part of an investigation into historical cases of sexual abuse of children at a former Catholic orphanage.

Two men have been arrested and a further two people interviewed in connection with alleged child abuse at St Francis Boys’ Home in Shefford during the 1960s and 1970s.

A 72-year-old man from Bedford was arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting four children, while a 79-year-old man from Mundford, Norfolk, was arrested on suspicion of six sexual and 14 physical assaults on children at the home.

Both men have been bailed until April.

It is thought more than 100 boys could have been abused at High Street Home before it was closed in 1973.

Many of the victims have said Father John Ryan, who died in 2008, abused them while he ran the home in the 1960s.

Others claim Father Wilfred Johnson, who ran the home between 1945 and 1954, preyed on them. He died in 1994.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Bedford Today

Two men – including one from Bedford – have been arrested and a further two people interviewed in connection with an on-going investigation into alleged child abuse at St Francis’ Boys’ Home in Shefford during the 1960s and 1970s.

A 72-year-old man from Bedford was arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting four children, while a 79-year-old man from Mundford, Norfolk, was arrested on suspicion of six sexual and 14 physical assaults on children at the home.

Both have been bailed until April.

A 68-year-old man was voluntarily interviewed under caution for sexual assault and enquiries are on-going.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Bridie Jabour
@bkjabour
Wednesday 25 February 2015

Former Knox Grammar school teacher and convicted paedophile Craig Treloar has told how he first thought his career was over in the 1980s when he was caught showing porn to students, but he went on to teach and allegedly abuse at the school into the next century.

Treloar was questioned about when he was first caught behaving inappropriately with students as he gave evidence at the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse hearings on Knox Grammar on Wednesday.

In 1987 Treloar was called to the office of the headmaster, Ian Paterson, after a boy made a complaint about Treloar showing porn to students in his room.

“I was quite distressed. I thought my career was over,” Treloar said of the meeting.

Asked by counsel assisting the royal commission, David Lloyd, what he thought was going to happen, Treloar responded: “I’d be sacked.”

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

February 25, 2015

Rachel Browne

Two of the most senior staff at Knox Grammar School believed a teacher showed hardcore pornography to students to “show off” and failed to tell the children’s parents what happened or notify police, a royal commission has heard.

Former preparatory school head Michael Jenkinson told the royal commission that he and headmaster Ian Paterson questioned teacher Craig Treloar’s motives for exposing the boys to the explicit material.

Treloar admitted to Dr Paterson he watched pornography with the boys in 1987 but was allowed to keep his job after a short period of suspension.

Mr Jenkinson said he was not aware of the “level of depravity” in the material which included paedophilia and bestiality.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

[with video]

FEBRUARY 25, 2015

Ean Higgins
Reporter
Sydney

A PEDOPHILE teacher at Sydney’s prestigious Knox Grammar expected to be sacked after being caught showing pornographic videos to a student, but instead stayed at the school for another 22 years, during which time he abused other boys.

Craig Treloar, convicted in 2010 for sexually abusing three boys, was asked at an inquiry this morning how he felt when, in 1987, he was called into the office of the headmaster, Ian Paterson, and confronted with the pornography complaint made by the boy.

He said he admitted to the pornography charge, but said he was not asked by Mr Paterson whether he had engaged in any more serious misconduct.

“I most likely would have said no, because I was too scared,” Treloar told the inquiry.

“I was quite distressed. I thought my career was over, I thought I’d be sacked.”

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – The World Today

ELEANOR HALL: After two days of evidence from former students of Sydney’s Knox Grammar school, a convicted offender is now appearing at the royal commission into child sexual abuse.

Craig Treloar was sentenced to two years in jail in 2009 for assault offences dating back more than two decades.

Thomas Oriti is covering the commission hearings and joins us now.

Thomas, tell us more about today’s witness.

THOMAS ORITI: Well Eleanor, when a group of former Knox students first reported their abuse to police in 2009, five teachers were convicted of child sex offences.

Four of them received suspended sentences, or good behaviour bonds, and only one of them went to jail.

That was Craig Treloar, who in fact was still teaching at Knox Grammar until his arrest. In total, he was there for 27 years.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

[with video]

A former teacher at an elite Sydney private school convicted of sex abuse was allowed to delay the timing of his suspension after admitting to showing pornography to students in the 1980s, a national inquiry has heard.

Craig Treloar was later sentenced to four and a half years in jail, with a non-parole period of two years, in 2010 for indecently assaulting three boys at Knox Grammar in Wahroonga.

On Tuesday Treloar told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that after admitting to showing porn to students in 1987 he was suspended from teaching for six months, but made a request for it to be delayed.

‘The decision was that I’d leave the boarding house, that I would lose my teaching position for a period of six months, basically the first six months of 1988,’ he told the commission.

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AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times

February 25, 2015

Rachel Browne

Two of the most senior staff at Knox Grammar School believed a teacher showed hardcore pornography to students to “show off” and failed to tell the children’s parents what happened or notify police, a royal commission has heard.

Former preparatory school head Michael Jenkinson told the royal commission that he and headmaster Ian Paterson questioned teacher Craig Treloar’s motives for exposing the boys to the explicit material.

Treloar admitted to Dr Paterson he watched pornography with the boys in 1987 but was allowed to keep his job after a short period of suspension.

Mr Jenkinson said he was not aware of the “level of depravity” in the material which included paedophilia and bestiality.

Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has previously heard Treloar watched pornography with boys and sexually abused them.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Angela Lavoipierre

A convicted sex offender and former teacher at Knox Grammar says he was expecting to be sacked when he was first caught, but the school instead showed him leniency.

This week, the royal commission into child sexual abuse has been hearing evidence of abuse at the exclusive boys’ school on Sydney’s north shore between 1970 and 2003.

Craig Treloar, a former teacher at the school, was sentenced to two years jail in 2009 over a number of offences, including sexual assault.

He showed pornography including depictions of bestiality to students, as well as engaging in physical abuse.

He told the commission he admitted to the then headmaster, Dr Ian Paterson, in 1987, that he had shown students pornography, but was not fired.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

A former teacher who admitted showing pornography to students at an elite Sydney boys school in the 1980s continued teaching there until he was arrested for sex abuse more than 20 years later.

Craig Treloar thought he’d be sacked after admitting showing pornographic films to to boys at Knox Grammar in Wahroonga in 1987, but was instead allowed to pick the timing of his six-month suspension.

After returning from his suspension at the start of 1989, Treloar remained at the school until his arrest for child abuse in 2009.

He was sentenced to a minimum two years jail in 2010 for abusing boys at the school, but has also denied forcing his victims into sexual acts.

On Wednesday, he told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that, after admitting to showing porn to students in 1987, he was suspended from teaching for six months.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

February 25, 2015

Peter FitzSimons

My alma mater, Knox Grammar School, is this week the subject of a Royal Commission hearing into an alleged paedophile ring. Knox?

While acknowledging that as a big boofy bumpkin, I was not necessarily the type to be targeted by predators, my first reaction was astonishment at the impression given from much of the coverage was that Knox was a hotbed of sexual interaction between teachers and students, while the rest of us turned a blind eye. That does not remotely describe my experience, or that of my three elder brothers. Between us, we were in the boarding house from 1960 to 1978, and in my time there, I was only aware of one inappropriate interaction between a teacher and a student.

It was a sunny Saturday afternoon on the basketball court in front of McNeil House circa 1975. A quiet Year 8 boarder told a hard-nut Year 10 boy, “Dicko,” that one of the boarding masters, Don Hancock, had asked him to sit on his lap in his room, and the lad had felt uncomfortable about it. Dicko told the MacNeil Housemaster, Mr Miller, who told the Principal, Dr Paterson.

When we woke up Sunday morning, Don Hancock – who once told a gag that if you put his first name into the middle of his second name, you came up with an inappropriate act – was gone, his room emptied, and he was never referred to again.

Tragically, that was in large measure the way it was done back then. Scandals were avoided and people moved on. The wider world has, for the most part, learned the tragic results of that method.

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MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Date(s): Thursday, February 26
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Church of Saint Paul, Ham Lake

All are invited to the Church of Saint Paul in Ham Lake for a special Mass with Bishop Lee Piché to pray for healing and reconciliation in our Church and our community from the wounds of childhood sexual abuse. May the light of Christ’s reconciling love show us the way out of this darkness and lead us to hope and healing.

* Thursday, February 26
* 7:00 p.m.
* Church of Saint Paul, 1740 Bunker Lake Blvd NE, Ham Lake
* Bishop Lee Piché presiding

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER , Star Tribune Updated: February 25, 2015

Local Catholic Church officials says money would go toward paying debt from bankruptcy.

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis plans to ask a bankruptcy trustee for permission to sell some of its most well-known real estate, including the archbishop’s residence and chancery building, where top archdiocese officials have worked for decades.

Both of the Summit Avenue buildings stand across from the towering St. Paul Cathedral, and have been at the heart of the archdiocese operations.

Tom Mertens, the archdiocese’s chief financial officer, told a bankruptcy court creditors’ committee Tuesday that the church is considering selling four properties to help pay its bankruptcy debts.

The other properties are the Hayden Center just blocks away on Kellogg Boulevard, and the Dayton Building, which is adjacent to the St. Paul Cathedral and houses archdiocese staff.

About 150 archdiocese staff could be affected by a sale.

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AUSTRALIA
Jerusalem Post

By SAM SOKOL
02/25/2015

Views on reporting suspicions among the ultra-Orthodox are mixed.

In the wake of the revelations that community leaders in Australia suppressed information relating to child molestation, rabbis around the world have begun issuing calls for their constituents to report suspicions directly to civil authorities without prior rabbinic consultation.

Despite this, however, views on reporting among the ultra-Orthodox are mixed, with the national umbrella group Agudath Israel of America maintaining that rabbinic sanction is needed prior to the disclosure of suspicions.

Over the past several weeks, rabbis affiliated with the Chabad-Lubavitch hassidic movement testified before Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, causing shock waves throughout the Jewish world.

“A culture of cover-up, often couched in religious terms, pervaded our thinking and our actions,” one senior rabbi told the commission, which heard testimony relating to the social ostracism that victims and their families faced after coming forward.

“It is a gross abuse of rabbinic power for rabbis anywhere in the world today to think that they can deal with sexual crimes and to start asking questions, ‘Will I listen to the child’s evidence or not listen to the child’s evidence?’ It has to be dealt with by the civil authorities,” Rabbi Moshe Gutnick, the head of the Organization of Rabbis of Australasia, said earlier his month.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Victoria Police are broadening their investigation into alleged sexual abuse at St Patrick’s College in Sale after receiving “many calls” relating to new complaints.

The complaints, which have emerged in the past week, were made by men who had been students between the ages of nine and 16 at the Catholic boarding school in the 1970s and 80s.

Previously, police focused their attention on one person, but have since received complaints against “a number of other former school employees”.

An 87-year-old Sale man, who used to work at the school, was interviewed by police last week and released.

Detective Inspector Stephen Dennis said it had become apparent from the new complaints that the initial reports were not isolated.

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AUSTRALIA
The New Daily

KAITLIN THALS PM News Reporter

Victoria Police detectives have broadened their investigation into historical sexual assaults allegations at St Patrick’s College in Sale as more victims have come forward.

Since making an appeal last week, the Sano Taskforce detectives have received many calls relating to new complaints of child abuse at the Catholic school during the 1970s and 1980s.

Previously investigators were focusing their attentions on one offender, but have since received complaints against a number of other former school employees.

A Victoria Police spokesperson says the new complaints were made by male students aged between nine and 16 at the time of the incidents, when they attended the boys only boarding school.

The spokesperson says detectives interviewed an 87-year-old Sale man, a former school employee, last Thursday who was later released pending further enquiries.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

February 25, 2015

Henrietta Cook, Jane Lee

Victorian schools will be deregistered if they don’t have policies to manage child abuse risks and respond to allegations.

Education Minister James Merlino will order all schools to have policies that meet minimum child safety standards or risk having their registration suspended or cancelled, following a recommendation from the Victorian inquiry into child sexual abuse,

The Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority will also be given new powers to conduct “quick and targeted” reviews to ensure schools meet their obligations.

But the child safe standards for schools have not yet been developed – the Department of Education will begin consultations with stakeholders in coming weeks.

Mr Merlino said the reforms would prompt every school to look at what they could do to reduce the risk of child abuse.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Declan Brennan
PUBLISHED
24/02/2015

An alleged victim of clerical sexual abuse has told a trial of a detective charged with forgery that she was angry when she found out that a file on her case had never been sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Wicklow detective Garda Catherine McGowan (48), who is based at Bray Garda Station, has pleaded not guilty to one count of forgery on January 15, 2009 at Bray Garda Station and two counts of using a false instrument at Bray Garda Station and at Harcourt Street Garda Station between June 21 and 22, 2011.

The instrument is alleged to have been a letter from the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), dated January 14, 2009.

The woman testified that the accused had previously informed her that the DPP had received the file and was not going to prosecute the case.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

25 FEBRUARY 2015

Our Inspirational Woman of the Year winner, who led the campaign for an institutional abuse inquiry in Northern Ireland tells Stephanie Bell how a hunger for justice transformed her into a victims’ champion

Margaret McGuckin faced a battle of David and Goliath proportions when she took on the might of the Government and Church to secure justice for victims of institutional abuse. The campaign, which began with her collecting signatures in 2008, took on a life of its own as thousands got behind her petition. Margaret’s will of steel saw her successfully lobby parliament to secure all-party support for an inquiry.

The Northern Ireland Institutional Abuse Inquiry started in January and has dominated headlines throughout 2014 with victims telling their stories of the truly horrific physical and sexual abuse meted out to them in care homes.

Margaret, who was joint winner along with the late Una Crudden of the Belfast Telegraph Inspirational Woman of the Year 2014, played a huge role in securing the inquiry.

But her work is not over yet.

Now through the group she helped form – Survivors and Victims of Institutional Abuse (SAVIA) – she is currently campaigning to ensure that the Government now takes action to meet the needs of victims, many of whom are in their seventies and eighties.

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