ABUSE TRACKER

MONTANA
Helena Independent

KATHRYN HAAKE Missoulian

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Hundreds of victims of clergy sex abuse that spanned decades in Montana stand to receive payments totaling about $20 mi… Read more

COEUR d’ALENE, Idaho — Though a federal court has approved a $20 million settlement compensating hundreds of western Montana Catholics molested by nuns and priests, the trauma endured by the victims is far from over, they said Wednesday.

“This isn’t going to stop me from remembering,” said one of the victims following the bankruptcy hearing. “I walk past a church, I remember it. I walk past a priest, I remember it. I see a nun, I remember it.”

The bankruptcy settlement includes a $15 million payment from the Catholic Diocese of Helena and another $4.45 million from the Ursuline Nuns of the Western Province, who ran the Ursuline Academy of St. Ignatius.

Bryan Smith, who represented over 360 victims, said most attended school at the Ursuline Academy or the St. Ignatius Mission in St. Ignatius.

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
CBS Sacramento

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A North Highlands church choir director accused of having a sexual relationship with a minor is facing new charges.

Sacramento Police say Kareem Mitchell, 42, will face four additional charges, because another victim has come forward.

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NEW JERSEY
MyCentralJersey

Suzanne Russell, @SRussellMyCJ March 4, 2015

NEWARK – A Linden man who was a leader in a boys youth organization and a religious education teacher is accused of possessing more than 1,000 images and 43 videos of child sexual abuse.

Gregory J. Aker, 45, is charged with one count of possessing child pornography, according to U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman.

Aker is in state custody and scheduled to appear March 12 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Falk here.

According to the complaint, Aker was a leader with a boys youth organization and a religious education teacher with his church. The name of the church was not identified by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

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CALIFORNIA
Sacramento Bee

BY CATHY LOCKECLOCKE@SACBEE.COM
03/04/2015

Sacramento police report that additional charges have been filed against a man arrested last month on suspicion of assaulting a teenager he met while working as a church choir director. The new charges came after another alleged victim recently came forward.

Kareem Abdul Mitchell, 42, was arrested Feb. 3, following an investigation that began in September 2014, when police received a report of an alleged sexual relationship, initiated by Mitchell, that had occurred several years earlier and involved a minor in his late teens. The initial alleged victim, who is now an adult, indicated that the relationship began in 2005 and ended in 2008. The investigation revealed that Mitchell met the victim while working as a choir director at the New Testament Baptist Church in North Highlands, according to a Police Department news release.

Police said similar allegations were leveled against Mitchell twice before, while he was working as a choir director, but no charges were ever filed.

Mitchell was taken into custody Feb. 3 at police headquarters after being interviewed by detectives. He was booked at that time on suspicion of multiple sexual offenses.

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

AUSTRALIA
Braidwood Times

By William Vallely March 5, 2015

A FORMER Ballarat parish priest has appealed a three month jail sentence after indecently assaulting a nine-year-old girl in the 1970s.

Eighty-four-year-old Leslie Sheahan, a Ballarat North priest in the 1960s, was on Thursday given a 12-month sentence by magistrate Michelle Hodgson – three of which were to be served immediately.

Ms Hodgson said the historical sex offence was indicative of the culture of silence and accountability by members of the clergy who have abused positions of trust.

“Slowly but surely we have come to recognise people in positions of power are taking advantage of people,” she said.

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CALIFORNIA
News 10

A former North Highlands church choir director faces addition charges of sexual assault of a minor after another victim came forward, the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office said.

Kareem Mitchell, 42, was charged with four counts of oral copulation with a minor under the age of 18 during his arraignment Wednesday. According to the criminal complaint filed by the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office, the abuse lasted between January 2001 and August 2001.

The victim, a teenage boy, reported Mitchell after he was arrested and charged with sexual assault on another teenage boy. Sacramento police said the abuse with that victim dated back to 2005 and lasted for three years.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Posted by: Jennifer Brooks Updated: March 4, 2015

Fugitive cult leader Victor Barnard is behind bars in Brazil, but getting him behind bars in Minnesota could take years.

Frustrated Pine County officials are waiting to hear whether Barnard is going to fight the extradition order that would bring him back to face 59 counts of sexual assault against young girls in his congregation. Barnard, 53, spent three years on the run in Brazil before his arrest Friday in the coastal resort town of Pipa.

“At the very earliest, one month. At the very latest, we’re talking three years,” said newly elected Pine County Attorney Reese Frederickson. “We don’t know. If he waives extradition, it will be one month. If he wants to fight it, it’s a one- to three-year process, depending on his life circumstances.”

Barnard left Pine County in 2010 bankrupt and under a cloud of suspicion for his behavior during his years at the head of the River Road Fellowship in Finlayson. After charges were filed a year ago, he was able to evade an international manhunt with the aid of one of his followers — a young woman from a wealthy Brazilian family.

The woman, identified by Brazilian media as 33-year-old Cristina Liberato, had been a member of the fellowship since she was in her teens. Former fellowship members identified her as one of Barnard’s “maidens,” young women between the ages of 12 and 24 he separated from their families and brought to live near him in the isolated religious community.

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MONTANA
KHQ

[with video]

by Victor Correa, KHQ Local News Reporter

COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho –
There was a sigh of relief on behalf of attorneys today in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. This came after a judge approved a multi-million dollar settlement between the Catholic Diocese of Helena and more than 300 people who claimed they had been sexually abused by the diocese clergymen. Today marked the end of a three and half year legal battle that started in September 2011.

Abuse victim, Jane Doe, says the money is secondary to the suffering she and hundreds more endured.

“It doesn’t go away, the pain never goes away,” says Doe.

Doe says she was abused in 1954 when she was only 10 years old. Though the legal fight may be over, for her, it’ll never end.

“Every time you see a nun, a priest, every time you walk past a church, you’re reminded of it,” says Doe.

In 2011, people like Doe began to come forward, the numbers quickly grew from 30 to 362. Lawsuits were filed against the diocese of Helena for sexual abuse and the Ursuline Nuns of the Western Province for allegedly knowing about the abuse and even participating. The current Bishop said at the time all of these allegations were overwhelming.

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

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Another Christian Brother has appeared in a New South Wales court charged over historical sexual offences against children in the Goulburn area.

The 63-year-old man, who was arrested on Wednesday at Ryde in Sydney, is the fourth Christian Brother arrested in relation to allegations of abuse in Goulburn between 1978 and 1989.

Until recently, the teacher had been working at a Catholic school college in Chatswood.

He was stood down last week.

It is alleged he abused a teenage boy from 1984 to 1987, while working at a Catholic school in the Goulburn area in the state’s Southern Tablelands.

The first offence allegedly occurred when the boy was just 13 years old.

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

AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

A FORMER Supreme Court judge says he told the headmaster of Knox Grammar to report an allegation to police that a teacher had been sleeping with a boy at the elite Sydney school for two years.

MORRIS “Dusty” Ireland, who was chairman of the Knox school council in the 1990s, has told the child abuse royal commission headmaster Ian Paterson told him in 1992 a student was threatening to sue the school and expose it “as a hotbed of homosexuality”.

The student, known as ATJ, also alleged another teacher – known as ARZ – had been having sex with a senior student, known as ATP, for two years.

Justice Ireland said he could not now remember full details, but recalled advising Dr Paterson not to approach the student and telling him the ARZ affair should be reported to police because it “might involve criminal conduct” depending on the student’s age.

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

AUSTRALIA
Sky News

The child sex abuse royal commission has apologised for mentioning the name of a teacher who was alleged to have had a two-year affair with a Knox Grammar boy.

It says it will not be recommending any charges against the teacher, who has now been given the pseudonym ARZ.

David Lloyd, counsel assisting the commission, said he made an error in mentioning the teacher’s name when questioning witnesses about the allegation made by a former student who was threatening to sue the elite north shore Sydney school.

‘The error is as counsel assisting entirely mine and I apologise for it,’ Mr Lloyd said.

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

AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

March 5, 2015

Rachel Browne
Social Affairs Reporter

A former Knox Grammar School student witnessed the school’s then headmaster Ian Paterson allegedly grope a 15-year-old girl during rehearsals for a musical, a royal commission heard.

The former student, known as AUE, backed up evidence from former Roseville College student Lucy Perry.

Ms Perry told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that Dr Paterson touched her on the bottom and genitals during rehearsals for the musical Guys and Dolls in 1989.

The student came forward to the commission after hearing evidence from Ms Perry, now the chief executive of a global women’s health charity.

AUE said he clearly remembered seeing the incident while he was seated on the floor, facing the stage.

“Lucy had to almost jump out of his grasp and she turned – and she gave a small scream of surprise,” he said. “Then I noticed that Dr Paterson had a grin on his face.”

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

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Nicole Chettle

A former Knox Grammar School student has told a royal commission he witnessed former headmaster Dr Ian Paterson inappropriately touch a girl during a school musical rehearsal in 1989.

Lucy Perry told the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse on Tuesday that Dr Paterson touched her buttocks and placed his hand near her genitals, on the outside of her costume.

On Wednesday, Dr Paterson denied groping Ms Perry, who is now the chief executive of the women’s health charity Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia.

The boy she was partnered with for the show, known as AUE, today told the inquiry he had a clear view of the incident from the floor of the school’s assembly hall.

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

AUSTRALIA
Sky News

A royal commission has heard conflicting evidence about whether former Knox Grammar headmaster Ian Paterson groped a schoolgirl during a musical rehearsal at the school.

One witness AUE, a former student at the school who was in the Guys and Dolls musical with Lucy Perry in 1989, said he saw Ian Paterson, grope her.

He said the assault happened as Ms Perry, then known as Lucy Schaffler, walked off the stage.

‘As she completed her walk, when she turned around Dr Paterson hit her on the buttocks but I would not call it a pat, because his hand stayed there’, he said.

Brian Buggy, who was musical director at the school and who handled the orchestra in that production said he never saw it happen.

‘It would have been out of character for him and would have been, you know, the gossip around the school’, Mr Buggy, who is now musical director of the Sydney orchestra, said.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Tablet (UK)

04 March 2015 by Danny Sullivan

David Cameron this week announced a consultation that could lead to custodial sentences for those in the public sector who fail to protect vulnerable children and young people. This is one of a number of recent developments in the field of safeguarding that has implications for the Church in England and Wales.

While the government consultation has come in response to recent cases of horrendous trafficking in Oxford and Rochdale, it raises questions. Why has the Government not introduced mandatory reporting of abuse allegations? Since the publication of the Nolan Report in 2001 the Catholic Church has been required to refer any allegation to the statutory services.

A number of reviews into serious abuse or neglect of children, while showing real failings, have also shown serious resource issues with social workers expected to carry unrealistic case loads. That injustice must be addressed – the service must be properly resourced.

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MONTANA
Missoulian

By Kathryn Haake

COEUR d’ALENE, Idaho – Though a federal court has approved a $20 million settlement compensating hundreds of western Montana Catholics molested by nuns and priests, the trauma endured by the victims is far from over, they said Wednesday.

“This isn’t going to stop me from remembering,” one of the victims said following the bankruptcy hearing. “I walk past a church, I remember it. I walk past a priest, I remember it. I see a nun, I remember it.”

The bankruptcy settlement includes a $15 million payment from the Catholic Diocese of Helena and another $4.45 million from the Ursuline Sisters of the Western Province, who ran the Ursuline Academy of St. Ignatius.

Bryan Smith, who represented more than 360 victims, said most attended school at the Ursuline Academy or the St. Ignatius Mission in St. Ignatius.

The diocese was forced to file for bankruptcy last year in order to settle a lawsuit filed by two groups of victims in 2011. U.S. District Judge Terry Myers approved the arrangement in a federal bankruptcy court in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, on Wednesday morning, without objections from either side.

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
Journal Star

By Chris Dettro of Gatehouse Media Illinois

Posted Mar. 4, 2015

SPRINGFIELD — A national support group for clergy abuse victims on Wednesday called for more transparency from the Catholic Diocese of Springfield concerning two out-of-state predator priests who spent time in the diocese.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, also wants an explanation as to why six priests ousted from their Chicago parishes in the 1990s appeared in an official Catholic directory for the Springfield Diocese, all with the same Litchfield phone number.

The group says it isn’t sure those six priests ever were assigned to or spent time in the Springfield Diocese, but it suspects that one or more did.

The two out-of-state priests are the Rev. Frank R. Martinez Jr. of Iowa and the Rev. James Vincent Fitzgerald of South Dakota, said David Clohessy, director of Chicago-based SNAP.

“Neither Bishop Thomas Paprocki (leader of the 28-county Springfield Diocese) nor his predecessors have told anyone about them,” Clohessy said at a sidewalk news conference held across the street from the Catholic Pastoral Center in Springfield.

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
Holy Family Inclusive Catholic Community

What follows is a transcript of the statement I gave at the SNAP news conference that took place today, March 4, 2015, outside the Catholic Pastoral Center in Springfield.

My name is John Freml, and I’m a leader in the central Illinois chapter of Call To Action. The reason I’m here today – the reason why I wanted to assist David from SNAP – is to call for additional accountability from our diocese and from our bishop.

Now, Bishop Paprocki is a very smart man. He’s a civil lawyer and a canon lawyer, and he knows exactly what he’s doing. Don’t get me wrong – he’s done some good in our community, by establishing a legal service for low income people who otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford it.

However, we can’t forget that he is also the same man who – in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 2007 – said, and I quote, “the principal force behind (sex-abuse lawsuits) is none other than the devil.”

Really. So it’s the victims who are doing the work of the devil, not the priests who harm children, or the bishops who protect them? According to Bishop Paprocki, it’s the victims.

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ILLINOIS
Holy Family Inclusive Catholic Community

This entry was posted on March 4, 2015 by John Freml
Bishop PaprockiOn Wednesday, March 4, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) and Call To Action Central Illinois held a news conference in which the names of eight priests accused of sexual abuse of minors were released, all of whom are believed to have been transferred to various towns within the Springfield diocese.

What follows is a summary of the information that was released. (Disclaimer: This information was provided to us by SNAP.)

What we know for sure:

* Two out-of-state predator priests spent time in the Springfield diocese.
* Neither Bishop Thomas Paprocki nor his predecessors have told anyone about them.
* If they molested kids here, those kids are now adults and are likely still suffering.
* If so, Paprocki has a moral duty to aggressively reach out to them.
* Six predator priests ousted from their Chicago parishes in the 1990s, while Bishop Paprocki was the Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Chicago, were listed in the Official Catholic Directory as having a central Illinois area phone number, after they were ousted from their Chicago parishes for alleged abuse. The phone (217-324-4192) is a land line in Litchfield. Currently, the only operating Catholic facility in Litchfield is Holy Family parish.

More details:

The two out-of-state predator priests who spent time in the Springfield diocese are Fr. Frank R. Martinez Jr. of Iowa and Fr. James Vincent Fitzgerald of South Dakota, both deceased.

In 2008, Fr. Martinez was deemed “credibly accused” of child sex abuse by Davenport diocesan officials and reportedly molested at least one kid in Iowa. Later, he was sent to St. Mary’s hospital in Decatur (source).

Fr. Fitzgerald was a member of a Washington, DC-based religious order called the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (202-529-4505). In 2013, Fr. Fitzgerald was sued for reportedly assaulting one kid in Minnesota and in 2010 for molesting two kids in South Dakota. From 1994-2002, he lived at a church facility in Belleville (source, source).

Catholic officials must soon release more church records about Fr. Fitzgerald, thanks to a ruling last month in a pending civil abuse case against him in Minnesota (source, source)

The six priests ousted from their Chicago parishes in the 1990s and listed in the Official Catholic Directory in the 217 area code are: Fr. David F. Braun, Fr. Eugene P. Burns, Fr. William J. Cloutier, Fr. Norbert J. Maday, Fr. Robert E. Mayer and Fr. Kenneth C. Runge.
We believe Fr. Mayday and Fr. Mayer are alive, but are unsure.
Fr. Cloutier, Fr. Burns, and Fr. Braun are deceased.

The identities of these priests were revealed from long-secret church documents, made public recently through civil lawsuits.

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ILLINOIS
WAND

Posted: Mar 04, 2015

SPRINGFIELD – Members of Call to Action Central Illinois and the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests have released the names of eight priests who were believed to be transferred to the Springfield Catholic diocese and have allegedly committed predatory crimes against minors.

Members of both groups revealed the names of the alleged individuals during a press conference in Springfield Wednesday afternoon. SNAP Director David Clohessy and Call to Action Central Illinois spokesperson John Freml were in attendance.

The individuals who were named at the conference allegedly committed various crimes involving minors before being transferred to the Springfield Catholic diocese.

The press release from the event (information provided by SNAP officials) can be found at this link: http://www.inclusiveholyfamily.org/blog/predator-priests-in-the-springfield-illinois-catholic-diocese.

A statement regarding the release of the alleged individuals’ names from Call to Action spokesperson John Freml can be found here: http://www.inclusiveholyfamily.org/blog/john-fremls-statement-at-the-snap-news-conference-on-march-4-2015.

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

AUSTRALIA
The Australian

MARCH 05, 2015

Ean Higgins
Reporter
Sydney

A FORMER student at Knox Grammar has backed up allegations that former headmaster Ian Paterson indecently assaulted a 16-year-old girl in 1989, putting his hand on her bottom during a musical he was directing.

The former student, who has been given the acronym AUE, told an inquiry this morning that he had a clear view of the alleged event, and the girl, Lucy Perry, had had to “almost jump out of his grasp” and “gave a small scream of surprise.”

AUE gave an account consistent with the evidence Ms Perry presented to the Commission this week in which she said Dr Paterson had put his hand on her bottom and touched her genitals.

The allegation was categorically denied by Dr Paterson in his evidence yesterday, who said he had not groped the teenager.

The alleged incident occurred during a full dress rehearsal of a cabaret scene in a Knox production of Guys and Dolls, directed by Dr Paterson.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

[Corrections and clarifications
March 5, 2015

A story Thursday on the Archdiocese of Milwaukee bankruptcy case misidentified a childhood sex abuse victim of the late Rev. Lawrence Murphy. Although Arthur Budzinski also was molested by Murphy as a child, he was not the victim in the case discussed in the story.]

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel March 4, 2015

The judge in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee bankruptcy on Wednesday dismissed nine sexual abuse claims involving priests and a counselor at a Catholic social service agency — the largest group of victims eliminated from the 4-year-old bankruptcy to date.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Susan V. Kelley threw out nine of 10 claims challenged by the archdiocese, saying seven of the victims failed to show evidence of fraud — the basis for their claims — and that lawsuits by two others had previously been dismissed by state courts.

The judge left one claim standing, at least for now: that of Arthur Budzinski, who was molested by the late Rev. Lawrence Murphy at St. John’s School for the Deaf as a boy in the 1970s.

Kelley said evidence suggests the archdiocese may have known as early as the 1950s that Murphy was molesting deaf boys at the school and failed to remove him, and that such disputes over facts must be litigated rather than dismissed on summary judgment as the archdiocese had asked.

The 10 claims taken up Wednesday had been seen by some as test cases that could be used to dismiss large numbers of similar claims.

Victims voiced anger and disappointment at Kelley’s dismissals of the nine. Even Budzinski drew little consolation from his victory.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Big Trial

By Ralph Cipriano
for Bigtrial.net

Judge Gwendolyn N. Bright asked Father Andrew McCormick if he was making his decision not to testify in his own defense of his own free will.

“I am,” the 59-year-old priest said.

It was the only time “Father Andy” has spoken in the courtroom since he pleaded not guilty to five sex abuse charges.

The jury did not hear Father Andy’s brief answers; they were in the back room on a break. And when it comes time to decide the priest’s fate tomorrow, the jury of 10 women and two men will have to try and reach a verdict without ever hearing a word from the defendant other than his repeated plea of “Not Guilty.”

Defense lawyer Trevan Borum told the judge that the decision for the defendant to not take the witness stand was “based on the Commonwealth’s evidence,” or presumably lack thereof. There is no physical evidence in the case, only the words of the alleged victim about an incident that supposedly happened behind closed doors of a church rectory 18 years ago.

But another factor in Borum’s decision had to be Father Andy’s disastrous performance on the witness stand a year ago during his first trial. William J. Brennan, Father Andy’s previous defense lawyer, conceded to that jury in his closing that Father Andy was “a bit of an awkward guy” who turned “beet red” on the witness stand and generally looked like “a deer in the headlights.”

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CANADA
The Peterborough Examiner

By Jason Bain, The Peterborough Examiner
Wednesday, March 4, 2015

A sentencing date has been set for a former pastor found guilty last month of sex-related charges involving a then-teenaged boy 25 years ago.

On Feb. 13, Mr. Justice Hugh O’Connell found Clifton Pelley guilty of sexual assault and gross indecency, but not guilty of three other charges involving a different man who alleged Pelley drugged him and sexually assaulted him as a teen.

The former pastor appeared Tuesday in court in Oshawa, where a sentencing date was set for March 19 at 9:30 a.m. in Superior Court of Justice in Peterborough, local trial co-ordinator staff said.

Last month, O’Connell told court he had no difficultly believing the testimony of the victim, who said Pelley had taken him into a church office after a trip to the U.S. in 1985 and told him he had the authority of the church and police to inspect his genitals.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Daily Local News

By Michael P. Rellahan, mrellahan@dailylocal.com, @ChescoCourtNews on Twitter
POSTED: 03/04/15

Philadelphia >> A federal judge on Wednesday agreed with the U.S. District Attorney’s office that a priest who had been assigned to parishes across the Delaware Valley should be held without bail pending a future trial on child pornography cases.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Lawrence Stengel granted the government’s motion to hold defendant Mark Haynes in detention pending his trial. The prosecution had alleged that Haynes, even after his arrest in October on charges that he possessed and distributed child pornography, continued to seek out to connect with young girls.

The priest, who has been formally removed from his duties, had also molested at least three minor victims while he served as their pastor, the government claims.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Statement by Peter Isely, SNAP Midwest Director
CONTACT: 414.429.7259

Four years ago Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki petitioned the federal bankruptcy court for chapter 11, promising that court ordering sexual abuse cases into bankruptcy was necessary to bring “healing” and “resolution” to victims of pedophile clergy. That took cases out of state court and put them into bankruptcy court, where they decide if creditors should get paid their business debts or private companies reorganize themselves.

$22.5 million dollars in lawyers’ fees later, not only hasn’t a single one of the 575 victims that filed cases in Milwaukee received a penny of restitution, ten more representative cases were tossed out today in a confusing set of narrow rulings by Judge Susan V. Kelley. One can only wonder: why did it take four years and millions of dollars to figure out only now that these cases don’t have legal merit?

If it wasn’t before, it is now painfully clear that the federal court should never have accepted Listecki’s petition for bankruptcy. The archdiocese never intended to bring healing and restitution to victims. What it has done, besides increasing exponentially the pain and suffering of survivors and their families, is bar victims from seeking justice in state courts and herd them into federal bankruptcy. Now, instead of being a victim of child rape or a plaintiff in a terrible negligence act, you’re a consumer or a creditor trying to get you bill paid.

Which leads to the obvious point: bankruptcy court is no place for criminal child rape and institutional conspiracy cases. Yes, other church bankruptcies around the US were resolved quickly, leading to some actual restitution for victims, on average, $350,000 per survivor. But the bishops in the other bankruptcies, in retrospect, seemed to have decided that they would work in some significant way with victims and their attorneys to reach resolution. In Milwaukee, however, the lone wolf archbishop decided he was going to send his lawyers to destroy victim cases like heat seeking missiles. So far, they have done splendidly for themselves. The current offer on the table for restitution per victim, by the way, is under $7,000.

That is why Milwaukee is now the nation’s object lesson on exactly how not to resolve church sexual abuse cases, as was recently mentioned, very pointedly and publically, from the bench of at least two federal judges in other church bankruptcy filings, Gallup and Minneapolis. How, the judges mused, could lawyers be paid twice as much in Milwaukee as the total being offered to all victims?

Apparently the message to the community from the archbishop from this bankruptcy, the innocent and the criminal alike, is that you can get away with anything if only you have enough money, power and time.

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UNITED STATES
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on March 4, 2015

If we can share our story with someone who responds with empathy and understanding, shame can’t survive.
– Brené Brown, Daring Greatly

One of the most common emails I get is from people who say, “Joelle, my friend just told me that s/he was sexually abused as a child. I don’t know what to do.”
Now, you have somewhere to start.

My latest book THE COMPASSIONATE RESPONSE: How to help and empower the adult survivor of child sexual abuse is now available. It’s available in paperback and for the Kindle—and because it’s such an important topic, I am also offering the ebook for free here.

This short, easy-to-read book will give you an understanding of the survivor’s need to disclose; why he or she may have decided to tell you; finding help, resources and referrals; reporting to law enforcement; and (most important) how to be a healthy, empathetic support system.

Originally slated to be a chapter in my upcoming book, this information was not relevant to a parenting toolkit. But it’s far too important to cut completely. By giving away the information for free, I hope that we can get more survivors to disclose and report and change civil and criminal laws to help victims of sex crimes.

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ROME
Crux

By Inés San Martín
Vatican correspondent March 4, 2015

ROME — Despite a frenzy in the conservative Catholic blogosphere, a high-profile priest who volunteers as an English-language assistant to the Vatican press office says he’s not planning to take legal action against a Canadian blogger who had criticized him, and considers the matter closed.

The Rev. Thomas Rosica, also a Canadian, said Wednesday he never planned to sue the blogger, and also insisted that he’s not a “high-ranking Vatican official” and hence there was never any prospect of the Vatican taking action.

On Feb. 17, Rosica sent David Domet, a musician who runs a blog called “Vox Cantoris,” a letter through the Toronto-based law firm Fogler, Rubinoff demanding the removal of nine statements that Domet had posted about Rosica. The letter said the statements were “false and defamatory for suggesting that the priest is dishonest, untrustworthy, and willing to act unethically to further his own agenda.”

When Domet posted the letter, it generated a mini-tempest among some Catholic commentators, often based on the impression that the Vatican was cracking down on conservative voices.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

By Tony Hanson and Walt Hunter

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — A federal judge today denied bail for a Chester County priest charged with internet sex crimes.

Meanwhile, the defense, which argued for bail, says it is eager to confront the charges against Father Mark Haynes, 55, who will plead not guilty to charges that include enticing a child to engage in sexual conduct and possession of child pornography.

Judge Lawrence Stengel ruled against bail for Haynes after reviewing the prosecution’s evidence, including new allegations that Haynes lied to authorities after his arrest, and that he concealed and tried to destroy an incriminating computer that authorities cannot find.

“If true, the allegations that have been advanced by the government this afternoon are very, very serious, and speak to an ongoing and persistent pattern of predatory conduct with respect to minor children,” Judge Stengel said.

And authorities add that since Haynes’ arrest, three people have come forward to claim they were sexually assaulted by Haynes as minors in the 1990s. They conceded, however, that those allegations are now beyond the statute of limitations.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Philadelphia Inquirer

JEREMY ROEBUCK, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
LAST UPDATED: Wednesday, March 4, 2015

A lawyer for a suspended Chester County priest “emphatically denied” accusations his client abused three young parishioners as a federal judge ordered the man detained Wednesday on separate child pornography charges.

The mounting allegations against Mark Haynes prompted U.S. District Judge Lawrence F. Stengel to reverse a lower court’s decision releasing the priest. Stengel said the allegations, if true, establish a “consistent pattern of predatory conduct toward minor children.”

Haynes, 55, previously of SS. Simon and Jude Parish in Westtown, stands charged with trading hundreds of pornographic images of children over Instagram and enticing 25 teenage girls he met online to send him explicit photos of themselves.

According to court filings, he used the alias “Katie Caponetti” while communicating with the teens online.

But federal prosecutors on Tuesday revealed a host of other allegations that have surfaced since Haynes’ arrest in October, including reports from three accusers who say the priest molested them in the ’90s.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Netzfrauen

[Interview with Francesco Zanardi, founder of the Italian organization “Rete L’abuso.”]

Du bist der Gründer und Präsident der Organisation „Rete L’abuso“, die zur Zeit die einzige Organisation in Italien ist, die sich um das Problem des sexuellen Missbrauchs durch katholische Priester kümmert. Weshalb und wann hast du die Organisation gegründet?

Die Idee entstand Ende 2009, und zunächst ging es um eine Organisation zur Selbsthilfe für die Opfer. Dabei haben wir sehr bald gemerkt, dass wir alle nicht nur die Erfahrung des Missbrauchs gemeinsam haben, sondern auch das Bedürfnis, Gerechtigkeit zu erfahren für das, was wir als Kinder erlitten haben, und für die Folgen der Taten.

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OSTERREICH
Wien@ORF

[The Klasnic commission appointed by Cardinal Christoph Schonborn received reports of abuse from 138 victims last night and so far 20 million euros have been paid to victims.]

Nach den Missbrauchsfällen der katholischen Kirche melden sich noch immer Betroffene bei der von Kardinal Christoph Schönborn eingesetzten Klasnic-Kommission – 138 Opfer alleine im Vorjahr. Bisher wurden 20 Millionen Euro an Opfer gezahlt.

Im Jahr vor dem Aufbrechen des Missbrauchsskandals hatten sich weniger als 20 Opfer bei den Ombudsstellen der katholischen Diözesen gemeldet. Fünf Jahre danach waren es immer noch 138. Fälle von Gewalt und Missbrauch aus vergangenen Jahrzehnten – aber nicht mehr die allerschlimmsten, sagt Waltraud Klasnic: „Ich glaube, dass die schwersten Fälle in den ersten Jahren auf dem Tisch gewesen sind und dass es Menschen gibt, die sich nie melden werden, weil sie es nicht können oder weil sie vielleicht nicht mehr melden.“

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DEUTSCHLAND
Katholisch

[More attention to victims of abuse is needed on the part of the church, according to Jesuit Father Klaus Mertes. “The silence of the church is not neutral, but a form of violence,” the director of the College of St. Blaise said Tuesday night in Stuttgart.]

04.03.2015 – Stuttgart

Mehr Aufmerksamkeit für Missbrauchsopfer hat der Jesuitenpater Klaus Mertes von Seiten der Kirche gefordert. “Das Schweigen der Kirche ist nicht neutral, sondern eine Form von Gewalt”, kritisierte der Direktor des Kollegs St. Blasien am Dienstagabend in Stuttgart. Er beobachte eine Tendenz in der Kirche, die Opfer verloren zu geben. Dabei hätten viele von ihnen zwar mit den Tätern, nicht aber mit der Institution Kirche abgeschlossen.

Mertes forderte bei einer Diskussion zum Kinofilm “Verfehlung”, Missbrauchstäter dürften nicht wieder als Seelsorger arbeiten. Glaubwürdigkeit könne die Kirche nur dann wieder herstellen, wenn es ihr um mehr gehe als um ihre eigene Glaubwürdigkeit. Der Regisseur des Films, Gerd Schneider, sagte, in der Kirche mache man sich einerseits viele Gedanken, warum wiederheirateten Geschiedenen die Kommunion vorenthalten werde, während andererseits Täter eine zweite Chance bekämen. “Das beschädigt die Botschaft”, so der ehemalige Priesteramtskandidat.

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MONTANA
Wall Street Journal

By TOM CORRIGAN
March 4, 2015

A judge on Wednesday approved a $21 million plan to compensate about 380 people who allege they were sexually abused by the clergy of Montana’s Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena.

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Terry Myers had been widely expected to sign off on the plan, which drew no objections and was approved by more than 98% of the alleged victims when put to a vote earlier this year.

The plan will settle about 380 sexual-abuse claims brought against the Helena diocese, 235 of which were filed jointly against both the diocese and the Ursuline Sisters of the Western Province, a religious order of nuns. The settlement also resolves the claims against the Ursuline Sisters.

The judge’s signature also clears the way for the diocese to exit Chapter 11 protection later this year.

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NEW JERSEY
Jewish Link

Teaneck—On Sunday, March 15, Project S.A.R.A.H. (Stop Abusive Relationships At Home) will hold its 9th annual community breakfast in recognition of its 18 years of serving victims and survivors of domestic violence and sexual abuse throughout the State of New Jersey.

The breakfast will begin at 9:30 am at Congregation Keter Torah on Roemer Avenue in Teaneck. The keynote speaker will be Jill Starishevsky, author of My Body Belongs to Me, and an assistant district attorney in New York City, where she has prosecuted thousands of sex offenders and dedicated her career to seeking justice for victims of child sexual abuse and sex crimes.

The Rabbinical Supporter Award will be presented to Rabbi Shmuel Goldin, senior rabbi of Congregation Ahavath Torah in Englewood, for his longstanding support of Project S.A.R.A.H.’s community-based work. He has participated in our rabbinic trainings, seeks our guidance when a crisis arises, refers congregants to our agency and has been a vocal supporter to members of his community.

The Aleinu Hero Award will be presented to Rabbi Jonathan Knapp, Head of School of Yavneh Academy in Paramus. Rabbi Knapp has invited Project S.A.R.A.H. into his school to train his entire faculty, students, and their parents on child safety through our Aleinu Safety Kid program. His consistent commitment to this training places Yavneh in a leadership role among all Jewish day schools.

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IRELAND
Newstalk

Lawyers for a detective charged with forging a document in relation to her investigation into a clerical child abuse allegation have described the investigation as one “nobody seemed to know anything about”.

Wicklow Detective Garda Catherine McGowan (48), who is based at Bray Garda Station, has pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court 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 investigation of Gda McGowan’s handling of the case was prompted by the publication of the Murphy Report which investigated clerical sexual abuse in the Dublin area. The priest in Gda McGowan’s case was one of the clerics mentioned in the report.

The letter read: “Dear Sir, I (illegible) to yours. In (illegible) the statement of the complainant…could not possibly form the basis of a prosecution given that the complainant’s allegation of rape is only conjecture.”

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MONTANA
KULR

By The Associated Press

COEUR D’ALENE, IDAHO –
A federal judge has confirmed a bankruptcy reorganization plan for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena that calls for almost $20 million in payments to hundreds of victims of clergy sex abuse.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Terry Myers approved the plan during a Wednesday court hearing in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

Abuse claims from more than 360 victims will now go through an adjudication process to determine final payment amounts.

Each will receive a minimum of $2,500, and a trust will be established for victims who come forward in the future.

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TEXAS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, March 4

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 startling new clergy sex abuse and cover up lawsuit charges that Ft. Worth Catholic Bishop Michael F. Olsen:

— illegally tape recorded a child sex abuse victim’s mom without her knowledge,
— also tape recorded a “trusting” and deeply wounded victim too,
— “betrayed,” “re-victimized” and “tried to silence” him until his statute of limitations expired,
— conducted a “virtual interrogation” of him “for fraudulent purposes: to limit or deny” any potential civil case (he) would have and to “elicit support for the diocese’s legal defenses” if he did sue,
— intended to “trick and betray” the mom “into testifying against her own abused and damaged son” with the “sole purpose of (using) her statements to defeat any potential civil claims he might justly have.”
— promised to contact the victim again “in a few weeks” but never did,
— led the victim “to believe he would go to Mass with him and pray with him but never did,
— said “how happy he was that (the victim) had not hired a lawyer to sue the diocese.”

The bottom line is that “As a trusting child, Doe was betrayed and victimized by a chaplain and as a trusting adult he was betrayed and then re-victimized by his bishop,” the suit asserts.

The perpetrator of the child sex crimes was Fr. Hugh John Sutton.

Under the guise of punishment, Fr. Sutton repeatedly inflicted “sadistic abuse” on the boy,” the suit charges, beginning in in 1990, when the boy was in the 7th grade at Notre Dame Middle-High School at Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish in Wichita Falls, Texas. During lunch hour in the school chapel, Fr. Sutton “disciplined” the boy by sexually assaulting him.

Fr. Sutton claimed, the suit says that “these excruciating, humiliating abuses were testimonies to God of his repentance for having plagiarized, and pleased Him” while also warning the boy to “not to tell anyone because no one would believe him,” and threatening “I have the power to ruin your life.”

A New York native, Fr. Sutton was ordained in Pueblo Colorado and worked as a teacher, chaplain or priest in Arkansas, California, Mississippi, North Dakota, Ohio, Guam and the US Navy. His only church assignment in the Ft. Worth diocese was apparently at Notre Dame (which he left in 1992). His last known location was at the Commons of Providence, a Catholic-affiliated assisted living facility in Sandusky, Ohio. He died in 2004.

The victim now lives out of state. He is represented by Dallas attorney Tahira Khan Merritt (214 503 7300). The suit, filed yesterday in Tarrant County court, seeks actual and punitive damages of more than one million dollars. It also says that in 2013, the victim “had a nervous breakdown, began to suffer debilitating panic attacks (which) flooded his sleeping and waking hours and wreaked havoc in his life” “as he recalled, for the first time, disturbing images of the serial rapes and sadistic abuses by Sutton.”

We applaud this brave man for his courage in exposing the Fr. Sutton’s horrific crimes and Bishop Olsen’s diabolical cover up of and manipulative response to those crimes.

We urge anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes or cover ups in the Ft. Worth diocese – by this cleric or any church employee – to find the strength and courage to step forward, seek help, call police, expose wrongdoers, protect kids and start healing.

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MAINE
Bates College

The Bates lecture series Unusual Positions: Controversial Approaches to the Study of Religion and Sexuality continues with Refusing Redemption: Making Catholic Sex Abuse ‘Our’ Story, a talk by Kent Brintnall of the University of North Carolina Charlotte, at noon Wednesday, March 4, in Room 221-222, Commons, 136 Central Ave.

Presented by the religious studies department, the women and gender studies program and the humanities division at Bates, the lectures are open to the public at no cost. Attendees are welcome to bring a lunch to the noontime events. For more information, please call 207-786-8204 or visit bit.ly/unusual-positions.

In the third event of the series, Janet Bennion of Lyndon State College discusses changing attitudes toward polygamy in Progressive Polygamy in North America: Is Plural Marriage the New Civil Rights Frontier? at noon Friday, March 20, in Room 226, Commons.

Concluding the series is Christine Hoff Kraemer of Cherry Hill Seminary with the lecture Eros and Touch from a Pagan Perspective: Loving Touch as Divine Birthright at noon Wednesday, April 8, in Room 221-222, Commons.

“The relationship between religion and sexuality is complex, seemingly contradictory, often tense, yet full of possibility,” says series organizer Megan Goodwin, lecturer in religious studies and Mellon postdoctoral fellow in the humanities at Bates. “Our speakers address religious traditions and sexual practices on the margins of conventional scholarship.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, March 4

Statement by Karen Polesir, Philly SNAP leader, 267 992 9463, karenpolesir@yahoo.com

Under no circumstances, we believe, should Father Mark Haynes be set free, no matter what restrictions the court may impose. Like most predator priests, he is well educated, well spoken, charming, and cunning. He should be given no more chances to intimidate victims, threaten whistleblowers, discredit witnesses, fabricate alibis, destroy evidence or even flee the country.

Archbishop Charles Chaput should personally visit each place this priest worked, begging victims, witnesses whistleblowers to call law enforcement immediately. For the safety of others, we in SNAP implore everyone who may have information or suspicions about any Philly cleric to call police or prosecutors now.

[The Morning Call]

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TEXAS
Times Record

Lynn Walker
Mar 4, 2015

A man who claims he suffered sexual abuse at the hands of a priest at Notre Dame Middle School in Wichita Falls has sued the Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth and its bishop, Michael F. Olson.

The plaintiff, who is identified in court papers only as John Doe 117, alleges he was abused by Father John Sutton, his history teacher and the school chaplain between 1989 and 1991.

The suit alleges that Sutton, who died in 2004, used the excuse that the boy had copied an assignment from an encyclopedia to require the boy to pay penance by accompanying the priest to a small chapel in the school building where the priest sexually assaulted him.

The suit claims Sutton kept “menacing ‘sex toys’” in a black bag he used to assault and torture the boy. It also claims the priest stuffed a towel into the boy’s mouth so his screams would not be heard.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Daily Mail (UK)

Priest, 55, already facing child porn and molestation charges ‘forced a teenage girl to perform oral sex on him while in the confessional’ over two decades ago

Three women have come forward to say that a Catholic priest already facing child sexual abuse accusations molested them in the 1990s and he allegedly forced one to perform oral sex while in the confessional.

Two of the three cases occurred when Rev. Mark Haynes was assigned to St. Ann’s parish in Phoenixville and all women were minors at the time, say police.

One of those three women said that Haynes attacked her when she confessed that she performed oral sex on a teenage boy. He then made her repeat the sex act on him.

Philly.com reports that Haynes, formerly assigned to SS. Simon and Jude Parish in Westtown hasn’t yet been charged with sexual abuse and has denied all allegations.

Spokesman Ken Gavin of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia is asking anyone with more information about Hayes to come forward.

Recent search terms on Haynes’ computer are ‘nude teen girls’ and ‘8th grade girls tumblr.’

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CALIFORNIA
The Telegraph

BY JULIE WATSON
Associated Press
March 3, 2015

SAN DIEGO — A history scholar selected by Pope Francis to be the new Roman Catholic bishop of San Diego said Tuesday that he will be a “friend” to the Latino community and called for comprehensive immigration reform.

Monsignor Robert McElroy made the comments during a news conference in San Diego hours after the Vatican announced his appointment. He called immigration “the vitality of our nation.”

“The border is a reminder to us of what we are called to do in our greatness as Americans and that we sometimes fall short of in how we deal with immigrants and how we must really confront the issues of immigration and resolve them with justice and have a comprehensive immigration reform that will do that,” he said.

The 61-year-old native Californian has been serving as an auxiliary bishop in San Francisco since 2010. He will be formally installed as the sixth bishop of San Diego during a Mass at St. Therese of Carmel Parish on April 15. San Diego’s Bishop Cirilo Flores died of cancer last year. …

Joelle Casteix, the western regional director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, said McElroy has not done enough to speak out against priests accused of abuse.

McElroy said the church has come a long way in improving the way abuse cases are handled. But “we need to constantly reform our environments so that they maximize safety and security for children,” he said.

“We can never think we’ve done enough or that we have put it in the past,” McElroy said, adding later that “a constant notion of vigilance going forward needs to be in place.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
Patch

By Kara Seymour (Patch Staff)
March 4, 2015

A former Doylestown Catholic priest who is facing federal child pornography charges is now accused of sexual assault, after three parishioners said he molested them in the 1990s, according to reports.

One victim said Mark Haynes, 55, who previously served at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, forced her to perform oral sex on him in a Phoenixville church confessional booth, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

Haynes already faces multiple felonies involving child pornography after being charged by Chester County authorities in October; he was arrested this week by the FBI on similar charges.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that three parishioners recently came forward with the allegations against Haynes, who is also accused of posting nude photos of children to Instagram as well as exchanging lewd emails with a 14-year-old girl, according to authorities.

Haynes served at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel from 1989-1991, according to the Archdiocese.

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CHICAGO (IL)
The Tablet (UK)

04 March 2015 11:49 by CNS

US Cardinal Francis George, archbishop emeritus of Chicago, was admitted to Loyola University Medical Centre this week to undergo several days of tests.

A statement from the Chicago Archdiocese said the tests were being conducted to evaluate his condition since he stopped treatment for cancer in late January.

“The cardinal continues to count on the prayers of so many who have written to wish him God’s blessings,” it said.

Until January Cardinal George was taking part in a clinical drug trial to treat his cancer. He was dropped from the trial being conducted by University of Chicago Medicine after scans showed the experimental treatment was not working for him.

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LOUISIANA
Bayou Buzz

Sheriff’s deputies Monday arrested a Baton Rouge therapist accused of inappropriately touching an 11-year-old client during a counseling session in early February.

The boy told investigators that the therapist, William Nicholas Abraham, 60, groped him on Feb. 3 during a counseling session at Abraham’s office on United Plaza Drive, according to a Sheriff’s Office report.

In an interview with deputies, Abraham denied touching the child inappropriately, saying the only physical contact he had with his client was when he put his arm around the boy after the session, the report says.

Jarrett P. Ambeau, Abraham’s attorney, described his client as being “absolutely innocent.” …

Abraham, a well-known local therapist, is a former Catholic priest who has written and performed contemporary Christian rock music in the Baton Rouge area.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY BEN KOCHMAN NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Published: Monday, March 2, 2015

He’s in limbo.

The disgraced former principal of a Bronx Catholic school who fessed to dipping into the academy’s alumni fund — before resigning amid charges of sexual misconduct — has one last chance to pay back $8,200 and avoid being tossed in jail.

Christopher Keogan, 58, has just two weeks to come up with $8,251 to pay back Cardinal Hayes High School, according to a deal hashed out Monday in Bronx Supreme Court.

The former Christian Brother resigned after being accused of having an affair with a male subordinate and having explicit images on his computer.

He was never formally charged, but was indicted in 2010 for allegedly stealing $50,000 from the south Bronx school’s alumni fund.

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

At 8.05am on 4 March 2015, police arrested and charged a Christian Brother in Sydney regarding sexual and indecent assaults upon children. Police allege that the offences were committed three decades ago at Goulburn, in south-western New South Wales.

The detectives arrested the 63-year-old man at an address in Victoria Road, Ryde, a Sydney suburb. Until a few days before the arrest, he was working at a Catholic school in Chatswood (in suburban Sydney).

The offences allegedly occurred upon one boy aged between 13 and 17, while the man was a Christian Brother at a Catholic school in Goulburn between 1984 and 1987.

He was taken to Ryde Police Station, where he was charged with:

two counts of indecent assault;
two counts of sexual assault;
three counts of homosexual intercourse with a pupil; and
one count of committing an act of indecency.

He is the fourth Christian Brother to be arrested by a special unit of NSW Police detectives (called Strike Force Charish), which was formed in February 2014, to investigate allegations of child-sex offences said to have occurred between 1978 and 1989 at a Catholic college in Goulburn involving numerous victims. This unit it located at the Goulburn Detectives Office.

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VATICAN CITY
Los Angeles Times

By TOM KINGTON

Pope Francis has taken action that appears to confirm his faith in the controversial head of a task force he created to clean up the Vatican’s finances.

On the pope’s orders, new legal statutes were published Tuesday cementing most of the powers that were given to the Secretariat for the Economy, which Francis set up a year ago and is headed by the outspoken Australian Cardinal George Pell. The statutes went into effect Sunday.

The Vatican’s hitherto murky finances will be overseen by the Council for the Economy, made up of eight prelates and seven lay people. The council will formulate policy, and the Secretariat for the Economy will carry it out. An independent auditor will be given free rein to check the accounts of Vatican departments.

Pell, who has said he discovered millions of euros that did not show up on the Vatican’s books and has suggested that Italian accounting is slipshod, has ruffled feathers and faced accusations of centralizing power at the new secretariat, designed to bring transparency to the Vatican.

Proof that he was making enemies within the Vatican’s bureaucracy came Friday when an Italian magazine published leaked documents suggesting Pell had spent more than half a million dollars in six months on his new department, flying business class and paying assistants large salaries, while spending $2,800 on robes at a Rome tailor and more than $50,000 on furniture.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Frankfurter Allgemeine

[The Evangelical Luther Church of Bavaria will pay compensation to victims of sexual abuse.]

Munchen (dpa) – Die evangelische Landeskirche in Bayern entschädigt Opfer sexueller Gewalt. Die Kirche und die Diakonie im Freistaat übernähmen Verantwortung für das Leid, das den Opfern in ihren Kirchengemeinden oder diakonischen Einrichtungen zugefügt worden sei, teilte ein Sprecher in München mit.

Finanzielle Leistungen können Menschen bekommen, «die glaubhaft machen, dass sie sexuelle Übergriffe durch kirchliche oder diakonische Mitarbeitende erlitten haben und deren Ansprüche gegenüber den Tätern und den Institutionen inzwischen verjährt sind», heißt es. Über die Höhe der Zahlungen entscheidet eine unabhängige Kommission.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Oxfordshire County Council

Oxfordshire County Council accepts the findings of the serious case review into child sexual exploitation and apologises that the multi-agency child protection system failed to prevent horrific abuse of six girls.

The independent Serious Case Review into Child Sexual Exploitation in Oxfordshire was published today (Tuesday 3 March 2015) by the Oxfordshire Safeguarding Children Board. The serious case review followed a trial in 2013 in which seven men were imprisoned for a total of 95 years for their crimes which took place from 2005-2011.

Jim Leivers, Oxfordshire County Council’s Director for Children, Education and Families, said:
“Like the whole community we are horrified at what happened in Oxford. We fully accept that we made many mistakes and missed opportunities to stop the abuse.

“Like the whole community we are horrified at what happened in Oxford. We fully accept that we made many mistakes and missed opportunities to stop the abuse.

“After the trial, the council apologised to the girls for not stopping their abuse sooner, and I do so unreservedly again today. They suffered dreadfully at the hands of these violent men, and despite many attempts we failed to keep them safe while they were in our care.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

Was it a hate crime? Fears gangs of Asian paedophiles who preyed on hundreds of vulnerable white girls were racially motivated as PM brands it ‘abuse on an industrial scale’

By Martin Robinson and Matt Chorley, MailOnline Political Editor and Keiligh Baker

A total of 373 girls suffered sexual abuse in Oxfordshire, a report into ‘indescribably awful’ child sexual exploitation has found – and now fears have been raised that the abuse may have been racially motivated.

Over 15 years hundreds of victims as young as 11 were groomed, raped and forced into prostitution by gangs of men ‘predominantly of Pakistani heritage’, a serious case review has found.

The damning 114-page report said victims were in a ‘living hell from which they couldn’t extricate themselves’ after ‘hostile’ officials wrote some off as ‘difficult girls making bad choices’ when they begged for help.

The vulnerable girls were initially showered with gifts before being plied with alcohol and drugs including crack cocaine and heroin, making them dependent on the men who sexually abused them.

Today Thames Valley’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Anthony Stansfeld, said the abuse may have been a ‘hate crime’.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Knox Grammar Royal Commission: Former headmaster Ian Paterson admits to hindering police investigation into paedophile ring

JANET FIFE YEOMANS AND AAP THE DAILY TELEGRAPH MARCH 04, 2015

THE man who ran Knox Grammar School for 30 years has admitted multiple failures which put vulnerable boys at the elite NSW school at risk.

Asked about these failures, by counsel for the child abuse royal commission, former headmaster Ian Paterson answered “correct”, with the qualifications “in looking back” or “in retrospect”.

Dr Paterson agreed he hadn’t delivered training for staff on mandatory reporting obligations; had no written policies on child protection; had no systems in place for interviewing or conducting reference or criminal checks for people applying to be housemasters and had never reported to police when students made allegations against teachers.

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

THE former headmaster of Knox Grammar denies he groped a teenage girl at a school musical production in 1989.

LUCY Perry, the CEO of a global women’s health charity has told a child sex abuse inquiry Ian Paterson cupped her bottom and put his hand near her genitals during rehearsals for a joint school production of Guys and Dolls.

Dr Paterson said on Wednesday it was “absolutely not” true that he had inappropriately touched the then 15-year-old girl.

He was asked about Ms Perry’s evidence that boys roared with approval when he groped her.
“Absolutely not. They were roaring approval for her performance.”

Ms Perry has told the commission she felt humiliated when students cheered and said Dr Paterson had a “creepy look of satisfaction” on his face.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Nicole Chettle

A former headmaster at the prestigious Sydney boys’ school, Knox Grammar, has told a royal commission he deliberately withheld information from police conducting an investigation into child sexual abuse.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard Dr Ian Paterson was approached by a policewoman from the Child Protection Enforcement Agency in December 1996.

Inspector Beth Cullen had received anonymous information alleging child sexual abuse by six people who had been employed by the school.

Dr Paterson told the royal commission’s counsel assisting David Lloyd he deliberately attempted to mislead Inspector Cullen.

David Lloyd: “You were deliberately attempting to mislead Inspector Cullen about matters that were centrally important to her investigation”.
Dr Ian Paterson: “I accept that”.
Lloyd: “And you did so with intention of protecting those teachers about whom she was making the inquiries”.
Paterson: “That’s the way it appears”.

Under questioning, Dr Paterson confirmed he did not share what he knew with police.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

March 4, 2015

Alan Dearn

Comment

We were sitting on the grass at the side of Knox Grammar School’s main oval in 1987; it must have been in my final few weeks of school. The memory of an awkward moment saying uncomplimentary things about Mr Fotis the religion teacher, while he was sitting behind me popped back into my mind when I saw his name deeply implicated in evidence before the royal commission into sexual abuse.

One of the things people who weren’t at Knox in my era find surprising was that the culture did not value learning or academic curiosity. After all, this was a school that closed its classics department and opened a business centre instead. What was valued was image. I vividly remember the headmaster, Ian Paterson, speaking in assemblies on topics like why Knox boys didn’t swear, because only members of the less privileged classes did that. Everything was appearance.

And sadly, I think that was what seduced my parents about the place. My father never finished school, spending a chunk of his adolescence in a Japanese internment camp instead. For him, Knox offered security, a network of old boys he thought would support his sons in later life, who would recognise the old school tie and help us on our way into our careers in the business world.

I nearly escaped in Year 11. The first couple of years were a bit of a blur of being miserable, sporadically bullied, and feeling constantly lonely. That never changed, although the bullying did. By Year 11, I was big enough and odd enough that people basically left me alone. I mainly lived in the library, to which fact I owe my encyclopaedic knowledge of World War II German military hardware. I did my work, so wasn’t generally bullied by the teachers either, and fortunately was neither a boarder, good looking or sporty. Nevertheless, Year 11 was a low ebb. I truanted, embraced depressing music and wrote awful poetry.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

MARCH 04, 2015

Ean Higgins

Reporter
Sydney

THE former headmaster of Knox Grammar has denied a sensational allegation that he indecently assaulted a schoolgirl 25 years ago.

Lucy Perry this week told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that in 2009 she reported to police that when she was rehearsing for a musical directed by the headmaster 20 years earlier, he had indecently assaulted her.

Ms Perry told the inquiry that while rehearsing for a strip club scene in Guys and Dolls when she was a 16 year old schoolgirl, Ian Paterson, in a deliberate act of misogyny to humiliate her, had put his hand on her bottom and touched her genitals, to a roar of delight of the Knox boys in the cast.

Dr Paterson said he remembered Ms Perry performing in the class, but categorically denied the groping incident took place.

As to the allegations that the boys roared at the time, Dr Paterson said: “They were roaring with approval for her performance as the sultry dancer.”

The inquiry also heard from Dr Paterson that when a former student threatened to sue the school for allegedly having been sexually molested by Stewart, and to publicly expose widespread homosexuality at Knox, he kept file notes that he made the decision not to tell the school council about it.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

Royal Commission into child sex abuse: Knox Grammar headmaster Ian Paterson admits he could have stopped abuse

March 4, 2015

Rachel Browne and Melanie Kembrey

Former Knox Grammar School headmaster Ian Paterson told a royal commission that he could have stopped the child sexual abuse which pervaded the school over a 30-year period.

Dr Paterson agreed he had thousands of boys under his care during his time as headmaster between 1969 and 1998 but never attempted to find out about the impact of child sexual abuse despite multiple allegations coming to his attention as early as 1975.

Under questioning from counsel assisting the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, David Lloyd, Dr Paterson said he could have prevented boys from being abused.

“If you had done more to . . . make investigations into allegations of child sexual abuse that it is quite likely that a number of boys under your care would not have been abused,” Mr Lloyd said.

“Correct,” Dr Paterson replied.

In earlier evidence Dr Paterson admitted misleading a police officer from the child protection enforcement agency who quizzed him about child sex abuse claims at the school after receiving anonymous information in 1996.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

The man who ran Knox Grammar School for 30 years has admitted multiple failures which put vulnerable boys at the elite NSW school at risk.

Asked about these failures, by counsel for the child abuse royal commission, former headmaster Ian Paterson answered ‘correct’, with the qualifications ‘in looking back’ or ‘in retrospect’.

Dr Paterson agreed he hadn’t delivered training for staff on mandatory reporting obligations; had no written policies on child protection; had no systems in place for interviewing or conducting reference or criminal checks for people applying to be housemasters and had never reported to police when students made allegations against teachers.

Dr Paterson was insistent he did deal fairly with a boy who complained he had been propositioned by teacher Damien Vance.

He sent to the 15-year-old to the library to think about what he had alleged, before accepting his story.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

March 4, 2015

Rachel Browne and Melanie Kembrey

Knox Grammar School was Ian Paterson’s “life and empire” and the former headmaster told the royal commission he would go to great lengths to protect its reputation.

On Wednesday he admitted he tried to cover up potential litigation against the school, misled a police officer investigating child abuse allegations and hindered her inquiry into claims against six teachers.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard Inspector Beth Cullen spoke to Dr Paterson about the six teachers in 1996. At the time three of the teachers under suspicion were still working at the Wahroonga school.

Dr Paterson admitted to the commission he did not provide the officer with any information about sexual molestation claims but referred her to their staff files, in full knowledge they did not contain records of abuse.

Under questioning by counsel assisting, David Lloyd, Dr Paterson agreed that he deliberately misled Inspector Cullen and hindered the investigation but said he could not remember why.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

Former Knox Grammar headmaster Ian Paterson has admitted he deliberately hindered a police investigation into claims of sexual abuse at the school.

During his appearance in the witness box today, Dr Paterson made a number of admissions, including that a number of boys under his care would not have been abused, had he taken action based on allegations of abuse that he was aware of.

In 1996 Inspector Beth Cullen, a police officer from the child protection enforcement agency, attended the school to investigate anonymous complaints of sexual abuse against five teachers.

Dr Paterson said he was aware of some allegations but said nothing at the time.

He suggested the detective should have questioned him more.

“I’m wondering why Inspector Cullen … didn’t question me more closely,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Australian Associated Press
Wednesday 4 March 2015

A former supreme court judge says he told the headmaster of Knox Grammar to report an allegation to police that a teacher had been sleeping with a boy at the elite Sydney school for two years.

Morris “Dusty” Ireland, who was chairman of the Knox school council in the 1990s, has told the child abuse royal commission headmaster Ian Paterson told him in 1992 a student was threatening to sue the school and expose it “as a hotbed of homosexuality”.

The student, known as ATJ, also alleged teacher Bob James had been having sex with a senior student, known as ATP, for two years.

Ireland said he could not now remember full details, but recalled advising Paterson not to approach the student and told him the James affair should be reported to police because it “might involve criminal conduct” depending on the student’s age.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

‘Sad, angry, disappointed’: Hugh Jackman watched every minute of inquiry into shocking abuse at exclusive Knox Grammar – where he was once school captain

By DANIEL PIOTROWSKI FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

Hugh Jackman and his former classmates are ‘sad, angry and disappointed’ at the testimony of their former headmaster at the prestigious Sydney high school Knox Grammar at an inquiry into child sex abuse at the school.

Dr Ian Paterson, the school’s headmaster from 1969 to 1998, gave evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse on Tuesday and Wednesday, today admitting to impeding a police investigation into allegations of paedophilia from teachers.

Jackman was among many who live-streamed Dr Paterson’s testimony in New York on Tuesday morning Australian time, exchanging emails with around eight of his former classmates at the exclusive school, according to best friend Grill Team radio presenter Gus Worland.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

BY ALAN ERWIN – 04 MARCH 2015

Judgment has been reserved in an historical abuse inquiry chairman’s bid to overturn a ruling that he unfairly denied legal representation to an alleged victim.

Sir Anthony Hart is appealing a High Court verdict that a bar had effectively been erected against the woman who claims she was molested by a “very high-profile figure”.

Senior judges hearing the challenge have been told alleged victims are now increasingly refusing to sign witness statements unless they secure legal funding.

The woman at the centre of the case is due to give evidence at the Historical Institutional Abuse hearings in Banbridge, Co Down, which are investigating child abuse in Northern Ireland residential institutions between 1922 and 1995.

The inquiry has so far heard from more than 100 victims and survivors of abuse, most of whom were in the care of the Catholic Church at homes in Derry and Kircubbin in Co Down.

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NEW ZEALAND
3 News

A former pastor and counsellor jailed for more than 12 years, has done incalculable harm to two girls and their family, a judge says.

Justice Mark Woolford was sentencing James Leyland Watkins, 65, in the High Court at Rotorua on 16 charges of sexual violation, one each of indecently assaulting girls of six and seven, three of inducing a child under 12 to do an indecent act on him and six of sexual violation by rape.

He ordered Watkins to spend at least five-and-a-half years behind bars before he’s to be considered for parole.

The court heard Watkins, a former pastor and counsellor in Rotorua and Tokoroa, had been extradited from Colorado in the United States to face the charges, which spanned a period between 2000 and 2006.

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ZIMBABWE
Nehanda Radio

By Tarisai Machakaire

HARARE – Most people have rooted their faith in “men of God” with the belief that they possess supernatural powers and are closer to God.

Some believe they possess the ability to solve all of their problems.

Women flock to churches in larger numbers than men. And consequently, they have often fallen prey to philandering “pastors”.

The local media has described such unscrupulous men of God as “rape pastors.”

Several such cases have been brought into the limelight.

And apparently, the offenders do not just abuse women and girls, they have also desecrated the places of worship by engaging in sexual activities on Holy ground.

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NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand Herald

Email Stephanie

A former Rotorua pastor who was extradited from the United States to face child sex abuse charges has been jailed for more than 12 years.

James Leland Watkins, 65 was sentenced in the High Court at Rotorua yesterday to 12 years and three months’ imprisonment after previously admitting 27 charges of sexual abuse against two victims, including six counts of rape.

The offending happened in Rotorua between 2000 and 2006, and the majority of the charges were representative, meaning the offending happened more than once.

His sentence carries a minimum non-parole period of five years and six months.

Watkins was extradited from the United States to face the charges. An American-born New Zealand citizen, he had returned to live in his country of birth in 2006.

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SOUTH AFRICA
IOL

March 4 2015

By Shain Germaner

Johannesburg – Four people, including a church pastor, accused of conducting a satanic ritual during which a 9-year-old boy was allegedly raped have been released on bail. This was after the State’s case was deemed too weak.

Meanwhile, leaders at the church where the incident allegedly took place have broken their silence over the incident.

The child’s grandmother, grandfather, uncle and the 54-year-old pastor were arrested last month after an investigation by the SAPS Occult Related Crimes Unit.

Police suspect the pastor and relatives of the child brought the then 7-year-old to the Full Gospel Church of God in Witfield, Boksburg, sometime in 2013.

The pastor, grandparents and uncle, clad in red robes and chanting, then allegedly forced the boy to fondle their genitals before the uncle raped the child, the State claimed.

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MONTANA
Fox Montana

By Ashley Sanchez

MISSOULA –
A bankruptcy court in Idaho gets the final say in two multi-million dollar settlements involving hundreds of sexual abuse victims and the Catholic Diocese of Helena.

On Tuesday a bankruptcy judge in Coeur d’Alene will be asked to approve two separate sexual abuse settlements, totaling more than $19 million.

Decades after they came forward with their stories hundreds of sexual assault victims are ready to be compensated for the physical and emotional pain they endured so many years ago.

“All parties want is to have this adjudicated quickly. We hope the court approve plan so all the victims are compensated as soon as possible,” said Vito de la Cruz with Tamaki Law.

On behalf of the victims, on Wednesday Tamaki Law will ask a judge to approve two settlements.

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MONTANA
KFBB

[with video]

Updated: Mar 03, 2015

By Amanda Roley, Reporter

HELENA –
Tomorrow the Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena will ask a bankruptcy judge for permission to proceed with a $15-million plan, which will be used to pay over 300 victims of alleged sexual abuse committed by its clergy.

The hearing comes just four years after lawsuits were filed against the Diocese for the alleged abuse that happened between 1940 and 1960.

One of the two lawsuits filed in 2011 claims that 362 children were sexually abused by clergy members at the Diocese of Helena, many of those children are now between the ages of 30 and 60.

The $15 million settlement to compensate the victims was reached last year, after the Diocese filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. So, the settlement must be approved tomorrow in bankruptcy court in Coure d’Alene, Idaho.

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SOUTH AFRICA
Times LIVE

The grandparents of a nine-year-old boy, his uncle, and a pastor were granted bail after a suspected satanic ritual that led to the boy’s alleged rape and molestation, according to a media report.

The two grandparents, the 29-year-old uncle, and the 54-year-old pastor were granted bail of R4000 each in the Germiston Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.

Magistrate Sharlotte Sithole said the medical report from 2013, when the boy was seven years-old, had no indications of sexual abuse or penetration.

On Monday, investigating officer Lt-Col Hendrik de Jager described the boy’s ordeal and said interviews revealed that over a period, possibly several years, the child was allegedly raped and molested multiple times by the group.

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WISCONSIN
NBC 15

[with video]

Those who lived in the area at the time will remember it well. Father Alfred Kunz was a well-known priest and his death shocked many. Now all these years later, investigators are still not giving up.

Seventeen years ago Tuesday, Father Alfred Kunz recorded his final radio broadcast. The next morning, March 4, 1998, Father Kunz was found dead, brutally murdered, inside St. Michael Catholic Church. The murder remains unsolved.

Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney tells us, “It’s still a priority for this organization to resolve that homicide.”

Mahoney says a number of detectives keep up to speed on the case and follow new leads that still occasionally come in. Matt Abbott, a Chicago-based writer specializing in Catholic issues, has written extensively on the case for more than 14 years. He spoke to us over the phone.

Abbott explains, “There have been various conspiracy theories that have been put forth.”

Ranging from the involvement of a satanic cult, to the involvement of fellow clergy. Abbott believes the most plausible theory: “Souring, I guess, of a relationship between Father Kunz and one of his teachers.”

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

by Sonya McLean

The supervisor of a garda accused of forging a letter from the Director of Public Prosecutions has denied telling the garda that if she “admitted wrongdoing” she would be “looked after”.

Wicklow Detective Garda Catherine McGowan, aged 48, has pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court 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 June 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 investigation of Gda McGowan’s handling of the case — which involved a priest accused of sexually abusing a teenage girl — was prompted by the publication of the Murphy Report which investigated clerical sexual abuse in the Dublin area. The priest in Gda McGowan’s case was mentioned in the report.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
News Letter

Judgment was reserved on Tuesday in an historical abuse inquiry chairman’s bid to overturn a ruling that he unfairly denied legal representation to an alleged victim.

Sir Anthony Hart is appealing a High Court verdict that a bar had effectively been erected against the woman who claims she was molested by a “very high-profile figure”.

Senior judges hearing the challenge have been told alleged victims are now increasingly refusing to sign witness statements unless they secure legal funding.

The woman at the centre of the case is due to give evidence at the Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) hearings in Banbridge, Co Down which are investigating child abuse in Northern Ireland residential institutions between 1922 and 1995.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Big Trial

By Ralph Cipriano
for Bigtrial.net

It’s a real dog of a case but the district attorney seems intent on retrying it.

On June 22, 2012, in the case of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Father James J. Brennan, a jury deadlocked 11-1 on whether to convict Father Brennan of attempted rape.

The same jury convicted Msgr. William J. Lynn on one count of endangering the welfare of a child.

The historic conviction of the monsignor became the show pony for D.A. Seth Williams, as Lynn became the first Catholic administrator in the country to go to jail for the sexual sins of the clergy. Meanwhile, the dog in the D.A.’s dog and pony show — the Father Brennan case — had to disappear for a few years.

Yesterday in Courtroom 1102 of Common Pleas Court, Judge Gwendolyn N. Bright brought back the Father Brennan case by setting a retrial date of Jan. 4, 2016. None of the lawyers involved in the case are talking publicly in the event that the judge may elect to restore an former gag order. But with all the delays and credibility problems with the D.A.’s star witness in the Father Brennan case, you have to wonder whether the retrial will ever really happen.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

MARCH 3, 2015 BY SUSAN MATTHEWS

The Federal authorities have announced new evidence of more crimes committed by Father Mark Haynes. The new evidence includes destroying a laptop (which was evidence) and, far worse, the sexual abuse of at least three children. The abuse accusations fall outside the statute of limitations (SOL). Therefore, charges can not be pressed. This is another example of why PA needs to catch up with all the other states who have abolished the SOL for child sex abuse and have enacted a retroactive window for past victims to come forward. Reform legislation is pending but being blocked by Judiciary chairman, Rep. Ron Marsico. Visit the Protect PA Kids Facebook page to find out more and how you can contact him.

Click here to read: “New Accusations Surface Against Chester County Priest Charged With Explicit Exchanges With Minors,” Tony Hanson, CBS Philly, March 3, 2015

It turns out the Archdiocese had a very good reason to remove Father Kolenkiewicz – child porn. Perhaps he accidentally downloaded a dozen of those images while in a feeding frenzy of adult porn (over 12,000 images in 2005 alone and more in 2011). Who knows? What we do know is that maybe the priesthood isn’t for him.

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UTAH
Herald

By Jackson Hadley Capital West News

SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah House of Representatives has moved a pair of bills forward in an effort to better protect children from child sexual abuse.

HB277, sponsored by Rep. Ken Ivory, R-West Jordan, would eliminate the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse cases. HB345, sponsored by Rep. Daniel McCay, R-Riverton, would ban anyone convicted of a felony involving child abuse from receiving or renewing a license to teach children in school.

Both bills passed unanimously Monday and will now go to the Senate for consideration.

Emotions ran high as legislators addressed the bills, as victims of abuse looked on from the gallery and representatives shared how abuse has affected them personally.

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WISCONSIN
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel March 3, 2015

The judge in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee bankruptcy could decide as early as Wednesday whether to throw out 10 claims of men and women who allege they were sexually assaulted by priests or others representing the church.

The archdiocese has not disputed that the 10 were abused. However, it argues it is not required by law to compensate them for a number of legal reasons, including the lapse in the statute of limitations.

Attorneys for the survivors reject those arguments.

“This is just the latest attempt by the archdiocese to hide behind the passage of time instead of treating survivors fairly,” said Michael Finnegan, whose firm represents six of the victims whose claims will be heard Wednesday, and most of the bankruptcy’s 570-plus sex-abuse claimants.

Archdiocese spokesman Jerry Topczewski said the church has been clear from the beginning that it would not pay claims ineligible under the law.

“It’s not fair to the people who should be compensated to include those who shouldn’t,” he said.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Big Trial

By Ralph Cipriano
for Bigtrial.net

A couple of former altar boys duked it out in court today.

Testifying for the prosecution in the Father Andy sex abuse case was Adam Visconto, 28.

He’s a special education administrative assistant who says that 15 years ago Father Andy creeped him out by attempting to lure Visconto and another altar boy down to the church basement for a secret rendezvous.

Visconto claimed that he and another altar boy, Steve Dozier, were so afraid that they ran to the parish school at St. John Cantius for safety. Visconto said that after he and Dozier told Visconto’s mother and a teacher what happened, the women advised the two altar boys to run home to Adam’s house and lock the door.

But the defense put their first witness on the stand today — Steve Dozier. He’s a former altar boy who’s now a Pennsylvania State Trooper. And Trooper Dozier told the jury today that Visconto’s story about running away to hide from Father Andy never happened.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Daily Local News

By Michael P. Rellahan, mrellahan@dailylocal.com, @ChescoCourtNews on Twitter
POSTED: 03/03/15

PHILADELPHIA >> The U.S. Attorney’s Office has asked a federal judge to hold a former Ss. Simon and Jude parish priest without bail pending his trial on child pornography charges, saying it had uncovered additional information about him that suggested a previously unknown danger.

In a motion filed Tuesday for the pre-trial detention of Mark Haynes, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Rotella wrote that investigators had interviewed three people who came forward to say that Haynes had sexually abused them when he was their parish priest and they were minors.

Haynes, 55, now of Egg Harbor, N.J., is alleged to have molested the children, whose identities or the places they lived were not provided, “with acts of sexual touching, masturbation, and forced oral sex,” according to Rotella’s motion. In one instance, Haynes is alleged to have taken confession from one young girl, who told him that she had engaged in oral sex with a teenage boy. Haynes then had the girl perform that same act on him, the motion states.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Bridie Jabour and agencies
@bkjabour
Tuesday 3 March 2015

The former headmaster of Knox Grammar school has admitted deliberately impeding a police investigation into paedophile teachers working at the school.

Ian Paterson was approached by Inspector Elizabeth Cullen from the child protection enforcement agency about complaints of child sex abuse at the school in 1996. Paterson told Cullen he was not aware of any complaints, which he has admitted was a lie.

He made the admission in his second day of evidence at the royal commission into institutional responses to child abuse.

He also directed Cullen to files he knew would contain no information. It was not until 2009 that teachers from Knox were charged with child sex abuse offences which dated back to the 1980s.

In reply to counsel advising the royal commission, David Lloyd, Paterson agreed he knew this would impede the investigation.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Philadelphia Inquirer

CHRIS PALMER, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
LAST UPDATED: Tuesday, March 3, 2015

A Bucks County priest was placed on administrative leave last month after it was discovered that a trove of pornographic images he had downloaded in 2005 included up to a dozen photos of minors, the Archdiocese said in a statement Tuesday.

The Rev. Louis J. Kolenkiewicz, 47, most recently of St. Bede the Venerable Parish, in Holland, had been disciplined in both 2005 and 2011 for downloading pornography, said Archdiocese spokesman Ken Gavin.

But recently, Gavin said, after learning that Kolenkiewicz had returned to active ministry, the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office – which had investigated the previous cases but declined to press charges – told the Archdiocese that among the 12,000 images Kolenkiewicz downloaded in 2005, up to 12 may have depicted juveniles.

The Archdiocese had announced in February that Kolenkiewicz had been placed on leave but did not specify why.

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PENNSYLVANIA
CBS Philly

By Tony Hanson

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Federal authorities say there is new evidence of additional crimes by a Chester County priest, already charged with engaging in sexually explicit communications with minors. Those crimes include trying to destroy evidence in that case and, more troubling, sexually abusing at least three children during his 30 years in the priesthood.

But a federal judge has ruled that Father Mark Haynes is not a danger to the community and has ordered him released on bail. Prosecutors are appealing that order.

Federal prosecutor Michelle Rotella says Haynes, most recently assigned to Ss. Simon and Jude parish, in West Chester, posed as a teenage girl and engaged in sexually explicit communications with more than two dozen minor girls.

In addition, Rotella has told the court, there is new evidence that Haynes lied and tried to destroy a laptop computer, which is now missing. More disturbing, since news of his arrest, she says, “There were people that came forward to say they had been sexually abused by him many, many years ago, for a period of years.”

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MONTANA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, March 3

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 )

These more than 500 brave victims and their dedicated attorneys have done the very best with an awful situation brought on by the Catholic hierarchy’s immense clout, expensive lawyering and obsessive secrecy. We hope the new settlement brings them sorely-needed healing.

[KTVQ]

The real bankruptcy of Montana Catholic officials is moral, not legal or financial. Every last priest, nun, seminarian and parish employee in the Helena diocese should be ashamed that their bishop exploited and hid behind legal technicalities so the horrific cover ups of horrific crimes remain covered up and so that parents, parishioners, police, prosecutors and the public learn as little as possible about clerics who committed and concealed heinous crimes against children.

Catholic diocesan bankruptcies are always selfish, shrewd and secretive schemes designed to protect the reputations and careers of church bureaucrats.

Bishops claim they seek bankruptcy protect so that they can purportedly “treat every victim fairly.” That’s baloney. If Catholic officials wanted to do that, they long ago would have set up a national or international fund so that kids assaulted in any state or nation would get help, regardless of that jurisdiction’s statute of limitations or that diocese’s insurance coverage.

Bishops pretend to be “on their own” when it works for them and part of the global church when that works for them. Legally and morally, they try to have their cake and eat it too. And that’s incredibly disingenuous and hurtful.

Not a single one of the dozens or hundreds of complicit Catholic officials, who ignored or hid these thousands of crimes, will ever be exposed or face justice. That’s a tragedy. And that’s why the cover ups of clergy sex crimes continue to this day, because those who cover up escape consequences, win promotions and thus have no incentive to act more responsibly when they learn of or suspect a predator priest is hurting a child.

No amount of money can restore the shattered faith, violated trust and stolen childhoods of these 500+ survivors.

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VATICAN CITY
The Tablet (UK)

03 March 2015 by James Roberts

Pope Francis on Tuesday issued a motu proprio that formally accords Australian Cardinal George Pell oversight of the Vatican’s financial activities, and sets up a new and powerful office of auditor-general.

Today’s decree consolidates the financial reforms Francis initiated a year ago when he established the Secretariat for the Economy under Cardinal Pell and the Council for the Economy under German Cardinal Reinhard Marx.

As head of the Secretariat for the Economy, Cardinal Pell has the power to issue executive decrees to all Vatican departments regarding their procedures, ensuring that their operations are carried out “efficiently” and “in compliance with the approved budgets”, the decree states.

The norms of the motu proprio state that Pell will oversee the creation of a centralised budget for the whole of the Vatican, showing income and expenditure for each curial office.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

The supervisor of a garda accused of forging a letter from the Director of Public Prosecutions has denied he told her if she “admitted wrongdoing” she would be “looked after”.

Wicklow Det Garda Catherine McGowan (48), based at Bray Garda station, has pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to one count of forgery on January 15th, 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 21st and 22nd, 2011.

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

Insp Michael Moore was was asked to determine if the letter genuineDPP letter a bad-quality photocopy, forensic expert tells court

The investigation of Garda McGowan’s handling of the case was prompted by publication of the Murphy report, which investigated clerical sexual abuse in the Dublin area. The priest in Garda McGowan’s case was one of the clerics mentioned in the report.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic Philly

BY CAROL GLATZ
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — New rules governing the guidance, oversight and control of Vatican financial and administrative activities include the power to levy sanctions and take “civil or criminal action” in cases of “damage to assets,” as well as providing protection for whistleblowers raising red flags about “anomalous activity.”

The provisions were detailed in separate statutes for the Council for the Economy, the Secretariat for the Economy and a “general auditor’s office,” which will be staffed by three lay experts.

The Vatican published the new statutes in Italian on its web site March 3; they went into effect March 1. Pope Francis approved the statutes “ad experimentum” (on a trial basis) for an unspecified period of time.

The establishment of the council and secretariat were announced in February 2014. Officials said it took a full year to develop the statutes because they had to be reviewed by the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts. A key issue reportedly was to ensure adequate checks and balances.

The statutes officially define the nature, role, responsibilities and organizational structure of each of the three bodies; outline channels of command and accountability; designate English and Italian as the new offices’ working languages; and emphasize the need to keep data and documents confidential.

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NEW JERSEY
The Jersey Journal

For immediate release: Tuesday, March 3

Statement by Mark Crawford, SNAP Director for New Jersey ( 732-632-7687, mecrawf@comcast.net )

We’re grateful that an already-convicted North Bergen pastor/exorcist now faces new charges.

[The Jersey Journal]

Most child molesters are never charged. When they are, they’re usually charged with a fraction of their crimes. Because the horror they inflict is so severe, and so likely to be repeated, it’s crucial that predators are charged with as much wrongdoing as possible, even if they’re already convicted or imprisoned. The safest way to protect kids is to do everything legally possible to keep predators and kids apart for as long as possible.

We hope that every single person who saw, suspected or suffered crimes by Gregorio Martinez – of cover ups by his church colleagues or superiors – will come forward, get help, protect others, call police and expose those who commit and conceal these heinous crimes against children.

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VATICAN CITY
Bloomberg

by Alessandro Speciale
March 3, 2015

(Bloomberg) — Pope Francis consolidated his overhaul of the Vatican’s financial system by publishing the statutes of three new economic bodies created to help increase transparency and modernize the centuries-old institution.

The statues of the Council for the Economy, the Secretariat for the Economy, and an independent Auditor General, all created in the past few years, were published on the Vatican website. Jointly, the bodies promote modern management principles and oversee Vatican offices that have operated independently in the past.

A more transparent and accountable handling of the Church’s affairs has been a key priority for the pope since his election in 2013. The first non-European pontiff in almost 1,300 years, who vowed to make the church “poor, and for the poor,” Francis is trying to restore the image of the Church’s finances following several scandals.

The Council for the Economy “follows international best practices in public administration, with the aim of an ethical and efficient financial and administrative management,” according to one of the three legal texts published on the Vatican website.

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

BY PHILIP PULLELLA
VATICAN CITY Tue Mar 3, 2015

(Reuters) – Pope Francis approved detailed new plans to reform Vatican finances on Tuesday, giving the Australian cardinal leading the changes sweeping powers to monitor Vatican departments and ensure budgets conform to international accounting standards.

The statutes had been keenly awaited for signs of how much power would fall to Cardinal George Pell – an outsider Francis brought in to oversee often muddled finances and who, according to Italian media, is viewed skeptically by detractors in the Vatican bureaucracy who feel he has amassed too much power.

The changes were one of the clearest indications to date that Francis is committed to the mandate given him by cardinals who elected him in 2013 to clean up after a series of financial scandals.

The most important of three new norms is one that governs the Secretariat for the Economy, which Pell has headed since it was set up last year. The norms give Pell wide powers, including the monitoring of other Vatican departments, ensuring their budgets conform to international accounting standards and are reviewed by external auditors.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

March 4, 2015

Peter FitzSimons
Columnist

Over his time as headmaster of Knox, Dr Ian Paterson’s authority was as unimpeachable as his seeming integrity, a man whose piercing eyes were so powerful, so pervasive, he was known as “Snake”. A glare from him could turn an errant boy, including this one, into a pillar of salt at a distance of 100 metres on a dark day.

Yesterday, when he appeared before the Royal Commission into Institutional Response to Child Sexual Abuse to give evidence as to his role in systemic abuse and its coverups at the school, all was different.

This time the piercing eyes belonged to former Knox students in the public gallery, victims of pedophilia, wanting an answer to how he, of all people, could have presided over it. And instead of glaring back upon us, this time his eyes looked stunned, bewildered, that it really could have come to this.

At least he started well, saying, “I am deeply and profoundly sorry.”

But then when counsel assisting, David Lloyd, took him through the lowlights of his actions, we were all shown that a “sorry” was never going to be enough.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Washingtonian

By Benjamin Freed

Barry Freundel, the former rabbi at Georgetown’s Kesher Israel synagogue who pleaded guilty last month to secretly taping nude women who were preparing to enter a ritual Jewish bath, is finally vacating the congregation-owned house he was supposed to leave months ago, but not before committing one more shonda: his moving van is double-parking his neighbors and blocking traffic.

The house, on O Street, Northwest, is owned by a family trust connected to Kesher Israel, which fired Freundel last year following his arrest on multiple voyeurism charges. His wife left the residence last fall, while Kesher gave Freundel until January 1 to get out. The rabbi stayed over the synagogue’s orders, and only after his February 17 hearing, when he admitted to 52 misdemeanor counts, did his lawyers say he would finally move out.

According to a neighbor who happened to be walking by, Freundel had reserved a parking spot for his movers last Friday, but wound up delaying his exit. And it appears Freundel did not even bother to clear his steps and sidewalk following Sunday’s ice storm. The movers arrived Tuesday morning to nearly an inch of ice. “They were like, ‘WTF?’” the neighbor says. Eventually, one of the movers grabbed a metal pole from the truck and started thwacking the ice away to clear a path.

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

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

By now, one thing ought to be abundantly clear about Pope Francis: Faced with attempts to hobble his reform efforts through character assassination of his reformers, this pope just doesn’t blink.

The latest case in point is Australian Cardinal George Pell, put in charge of leading an historic clean-up of Vatican finances one year ago. The hard-charging former Australian Rules Football brawler has more than his fair share of critics, but on Tuesday Pope Francis issued a set of statutes for his operation which, to some extent at least, amount to a vindication.

(The statutes were released Tuesday, but were signed by the pope on Feb. 22 and actually took effect March 1.)

Early reaction to the decision has been mixed, with some Italian commentators seeing it as a defeat for Pell’s ambition to create a “super-dicastery,” meaning a Vatican department with virtually unlimited powers over both administration and vigilance of all Vatican assets.

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NEW JERSEY
The Jersey Journal

By Michaelangelo Conte | The Jersey Journal
on March 03, 2015 a

New sex crime charges have been filed against the North Bergen pastor/exorcist convicted last week of molesting a 13-year-old boy in 2012.

Gregorio Martinez, 47, was convicted of aggravated criminal sexual contact, child abuse and endangering the welfare of the child for kissing the boy on the lips and groping his genitals.

Last week Hudson County Deputy First Assistant Prosecutor Debbie Simon said the new complaint against Martinez was signed Feb. 13 and charges him with one count of criminal sexual contact and two counts of attempted sexual assault in connection with two separate incidents.

The new charges involve an adult male victim, with the first alleged attempted sexual assault occurring in October 2013, said Simon, who heads the prosecutor’s office’s Special Victims Unit. She said Martinez remains free on a $250,000 cash or bond bail.

Attempted sexual assault is a second degree crime carrying a possible sentence of five to 10 years in prison. Criminal sexual contact is a third degree crime carrying a possible three to five years sentence upon conviction.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

Pope Francis has a golden opportunity. Pope Francis made a huge mistake in betting on Cardinal Pell — a failed moral leader in Australia, seemingly with an insatiable ego and an incurable inability to be a team player. He has demonstrated his incompetence both in financial and moral matters.

Francis needs to replace him promptly — with a top female financial executive. This would show that Francis will do more than “trash talk” about his ineffective Vatican bureaucracy — he will act decisively as well. It will also show he is serious about women’s roles at least in the Catholic Church’s upper management. It is not necessary to be “ontologically changed” to read a financial statement correctly — something Pell seems unable to do, intellectually or ontologically!

For more on Pell’s “mortal sins”, please see below and also “Can the Pope trust Cardinal Pell?” here,

[Global Pulse]

and “Rules Are for Schmucks: How to Succeed in Rome” here,

[The Humanist]

If Francis is not up to taking this bold step, he should at least replace Pell with Australian Bishop William Morris, who moved resolutely against a Catholic schoolteacher that serially abused students and against the school administrators that failed to discipline him. Bishop Morris put the interests of students and their parents first. He sacked the incompetent staff and he set about putting in place procedures to put right the errors that had been made.

Result: Ex-Pope Benedict XVI , with help likely from Cardinal Bertone and surely from from his ambitious henchman, Philly’s culture warrior, Archbishop Chaput, removed Morris as a bishop in May 2011, allegedly because of doctrinal and governance problems in the diocese.

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VATICAN CITY
Gazetta del Sud

Rome, March 3 – The statutes of the Council and Secretariat for the Economy, two bodies established by Pope Francis in February 2014 to oversee Vatican finances, came into force on March 1, the Holy See said Tuesday. The two documents are published on the Vatican website, along with the statute of the Office of the Auditor General, which also entered into force on the same day. The 15-member Council for the Economy is mandated to offer “guidance on economic management and [supervise] the structures and the administrative and financial activities of the Dicasteries of the Roman Curia, of the Institutions connected to the Holy See, and of Vatican City State” according to the motu proprio document that established it.

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

By Inés San Martín
Vatican correspondent March 3, 2015

ROME — Pope Francis decided the future of his financial reform on Tuesday, issuing a new legal framework for three key oversight bodies that largely confirm the authority of the man he put in charge of his clean-up operation, controversial Australian Cardinal George Pell.

The decision came in the form of a new legal framework approved by the pontiff for the Vatican’s three financial oversight bodies that he created in 2014: The Council for the Economy, the Secretariat for the Economy, and an independent auditor general.

Despite mounting calls from some quarters of the Vatican to rein in Pell, such measures are largely missing from the new statutes, which were signed by Pope Francis on Feb. 22 and became effective March 1.

The only major concession is that while the Secretariat for the Economy has been confirmed as responsible for procurement and personnel, it will not administer Vatican real estate. That function, which had been assigned to Pell’s department last year, will be returned to another Vatican department.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Spectator

Damian Thompson

Phew! I was worried that the smear campaign against Cardinal George Pell mounted by the pigs at the Vatican trough would persuade Pope Francis to water down Pell’s plan to impose proper accounting procedures on the Curia. But today Francis published the legal framework for the reform and – well, I can’t improve on the reporting of the Vatican correspondent of Crux website, Inés San Martín:

Pope Francis decided the future of his financial reform on Tuesday, issuing a new legal framework for three key oversight bodies that largely confirm the authority of the man he put in charge of his clean-up operation, controversial Australian Cardinal George Pell.

The decision came in the form of a new legal framework approved by the pontiff for the Vatican’s three financial oversight bodies that he created in 2014: The Council for the Economy, the Secretariat for the Economy, and an independent auditor general.

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VATICAN CITY
Global Pulse

Robert Mickens, Rome
February 27, 2015

Vatican City

The first stems from when he was Archbishop of Sydney where, as an Australian commission recently concluded, he bullied victims of clergy sex abuse. It was part of an unambiguous strategy to deter them and others from suing the Church.

The second is connected to his current Vatican position as prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy where directors of the pension fund for papal employees “corrected” him for making erroneous claims about the solvency of their operation. It was a part of his increasingly blatant efforts to tighten his control over all financial matters at the Vatican.

For many people in Australia and in Rome these incidents have re-surfaced lingering questions about Cardinal Pell’s commitment to genuine transparency, accountability and credibility, foundational values that are becoming ever more scrutinized in the unfolding pontificate of Pope Francis.

The two controversies have also sounded new alarm bells in the ears of the Pope’s closest allies who are already well aware that, except in the area of financial management, the Australian cardinal is not an enthusiastic supporter of the change of tone and direction that Francis has tried to bring to the Vatican and the worldwide Church.

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MICHIGAN
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, March 3

Statement by Bill McAlary of Grand Rapids, Michigan Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 616-514-0654, bllmack1@gmail.com )

A new bill has been introduced into the Michigan legislature that will protect more kids from child molesters by reforming the state’s archaic, arbitrary and predator-friendly statute of limitations. We wholeheartedly endorse this long-overdue measure that will make families safer from predators.

We applaud Rep. Holly Hughes in Muskegon for her concern for kids, victims and crime prevention. We hope every Michigan lawmaker backs House Bill 4231 so that more adults who commit or conceal heinous crimes against kids will be exposed, punished and stopped.

The vast majority of child sex offenders go undetected. That’s one reason why one in four girls and one in eight boys are molested.

One reason for such widespread trauma is because short, rigid statutes of limitations prevent victims from using the courts to publicly expose those who commit child sex crimes and deter those who conceal child sex crimes. These legal deadlines reward wrongdoers who successfully intimidate victims, threaten witnesses, discredit whistleblowers, destroy evidence, fabricate alibis and sometimes even flee overseas.

When lawmakers extend or eliminate these deadlines, criminals know they can no longer just “run out the clock” and evade justice.

Adults can either make it harder or easier to catch child molesters. This law would make it easier. We beg Michigan lawmakers to vote for kids and against predators by passing this legislation.

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