Month: April 2015

KANSAS CITY (MO)
WFSB

[with video]

By Chris Oberholtz, Multimedia Producer
chris.oberholtz@kctv5.com
By Elisabeth Rentschler, Multimedia Journalist

KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) –
Bishop Robert Finn, who was convicted three years ago of failing to report suspected child abuse, has resigned, but some in the Catholic community are still angry.

The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests maintains that Kansas City, KS, Archbishop Joseph Naumann, who was appointed temporary leader of the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese after Finn resignation, isn’t the right choice.

SNAP members say Naumann is part of a child sex abuse cover-up that happened at the Catholic Archdiocese in KCK. They are calling for systemwide change in the Catholic church.

They held a protest at the Kansas City-St Joseph Diocese after they found out that Finn will preside over the ordinations of seven deacons next month due to a scheduling conflict for his…

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UNITED STATES
Canonical Consultation

04/30/2015

Jennifer Haselberger

Some interesting items making the news today, especially for those following the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church and/or the downward spiral of the W.D.O.E.

First, Msgr William Lynn, the first Catholic diocesan official convicted of child endangerment, was remanded back into custody in Philadelphia today. Msgr. Lynn served eighteen months of his 3-6 year sentence before an appellate court reversed the verdict against him. However, on Monday the same appellate court reinstated his conviction, according to philly.com, paving the way for Msgr. Lynn to return to prison.

The Lynn case was watched carefully by those of us in St. Paul, and in Chanceries throughout the country. The original conviction came in 2012, just weeks prior to the revelation of accusations of abuse against Father Curtis Wehmeyer. I can recall the Chancellor for Civil Affairs, Andy Eisenzimmer, reviewing Minnesota’s child endangerment…

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UNITED STATES
POPE FRANCIS the CON-Christ.

Paris Arrow

Someday soon, the Vatican shall have this scenario that happened last April 15 in Brooklyn, New York. Look at how pathetic was this actual Mass in a grandiose (but almost empty) St. James Cathedral-Basilica in downtown Brooklyn — where there were only 100 people in the congregation — but the altar was filled with 70 men (almost as much as the attendees) — 3 bishops, 57 priests and 10 deacons. (Are these the only Roman Catholics left in Brooklyn? No wonder Cardinal Dolan is so busy shutting down and merging more than 150 Catholic churches in New York, read links below). The 3 bishops were Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, his auxiliary Bishops Raymond Chappetto and Octavio Cisneros. And it was dubbed “Mass of Hope and Healing for survivors of sexual abuse by clergy”.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Culture

By Phil Lawler Apr 30, 2015

Pope Francis has formed a new commission to implement proposals for a reform of the Vatican’s media operations . That’s good news, I suppose. Or is it?

The April 30 announcement from the Vatican press office about this new commission did not provide details. What will this new commission do? How does it differ from another special commission, forned only last year, which just finished its work, providing recommendations for reforms? According to the press office, upon reviewing the report submitted by the first commission, the Council of Cardinals “proposed His Holiness the institution of a commission to study this final report and to suggest feasible approaches to its implementation.” Didn’t the first commission give any attention to feasible plans for implementation of its recommendations?

In short, the April 30 announcement raises more questions than it answers. If the…

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
KPAX

Chris Oberholtz and Elisabeth Rentschler

Kansas City, MO — Bishop Robert Finn, who was convicted three years ago of failing to report suspected child abuse, has resigned, but some in the Catholic community are still angry.

The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests say Kansas City, KS, Archbishop Joseph Naumann, who was appointed temporary leader of the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese after Finn resignation, isn’t the right choice.

SNAP members say Naumann is part of a child sex abuse cover-up that happened at the Catholic Archdiocese in KCK. They are calling for system-wide change in the Catholic church.

They held a protest at the Kansas City-St Joseph Diocese after they found out that Finn will preside over the ordinations of seven deacons next month due to a scheduling conflict for his temporary replacement.

Naumann will be leading the ordination ceremony of deacons in the…

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ARKANSAS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, April 29

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 862 7688 home, 314 503 0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com )

A civil lawsuit has been filed against a Little Rock minister accusing him of sexually exploiting an adult congregant. We applaud this brave woman and are confident that her speaking out will prod others who were hurt by this minister to step forward and get help.

[Facebook]

Apostle Lawrence E. Braggs, pastor of the Awareness Center International Ministries, allegedly manipulated, abused and exploited a church member, Jennifer Richardson, from roughly 2007 until 2012.

This was NOT an “affair” or a “relationship.” This is exploitation.”

It’s not “consent.” It’s manipulation under the guise of spiritual help. It’s awful.

It is inherently problematic and unhealthy when…

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UNITED STATES
New York Review of Books

Garry Wills

An authentic pope should be a scary one. Jesus scared the dickens out of people (it cost him his life). Is Pope Francis truly scary? One might think so from the reaction of some guardians of orthodoxy, men like New York Times columnist Ross Douthat, who thinks he must threaten the pope with schism to protect the sanctity of marriage, since “this pope may be preserved from error only if the church itself resists him.” But ecclesiastical nitpickers have no armies of similar thinkers to summon. This is not even medium scary.

Now, however, something is looming that has billionaires shaking in their boots, and when Catholic billionaires shake, Catholic bishops get sympathetic shudders. These are the men who build their churches, hospitals, schools, and libraries. Catholic lore has made winning over such Money Men the mark of the true…

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MONTANA
KPAX

By Tim McGonigal – MTN News

HELENA –
The Diocese of Helena has agreed to post the names of members accused of child sexual abuse on its website.

This decision comes as one of the non-monetary terms for resolving the child sexual abuse cases brought against the Helena Roman Catholic Diocese (Whalen, et al. v. Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena, et al., and Does, et al. v. Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena, et al.).

The names will be available on the Diocese website for a minimum of 10 years.

The settlement comes after accusations of sexual abuse of children during the time period from the 1930’s to the 1970’s came to light.

The lawsuit claimed more than 360 people were victimized in this case.

The Diocese also is listing the names of priests against whom accusations of sexual abuse of minors have been made only…

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MINNESOTA
Courthouse News Service

By ROSE BOUBOUSHIAN

(CN) – A man who says he used to give financial advice to Catholic organizations claims in court that the church defamed him by spreading a psychic’s claims about him.

Michael Schaefer and his Dakota County, Minn.-based business, MPSCHAEFER, brought the complaint on April 21 against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis; Catholic Finance Corp.; Mater Dei High School; the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange; and that diocese’s revocable trust.

Schaefer claims that the Minnesota archdiocese hired him in April 2000 while it was in the process of creating a financial-advisory firm for Catholic organizations.

The diocese ultimately tapped Schaeffer to serve as executive director of that entity, Catholic Finance Corp., according to the complaint in Dakota County District Court.

In that capacity Schaefer says he “completed approximately $600 million in financing for Catholic organizations,” working directly or indirectly “in seven…

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
NBC 10

By Maryclaire Dale

A Roman Catholic church official was sent back to prison Thursday after the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court reinstated his 2012 child endangerment conviction over his handling of priest sexual abuse complaints.

Monsignor William Lynn, the longtime secretary for clergy at the Philadelphia archdiocese, is the first U.S. church official ever prosecuted or convicted in the clergy abuse scandal.

A judge on Thursday agreed that Lynn’s case presented a “novel” issue that she could have gotten wrong when she sent the case to trial: the question of whether Lynn actually “supervised” children under the law in 1998, when the boy at issue in Lynn’s case was molested by a parish priest. But in a case full of twists and turns, the state Supreme Court this week said he did and called his conviction legal.

So after 18 months in prison and 16 months…

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FLORIDA
Tampa Bay Times

Anna M. Phillips, Times Staff Writer

TAMPA — James J. Larkin, a former Tampa Day School principal, was sentenced Thursday to a 10-year prison term as part of a plea deal in which he admitted to sexually abusing two adolescent boys.

For more than 30 years, Larkin’s reputation was that of a beloved private school leader. From 1978 to 2009, he was headmaster at St. John Greek Orthodox Day School in South Tampa, a position he left to helm the Tampa Day School. The school fired him last year after a 14-year-old boy, a student at Tampa Day, accused Larkin, 64, of molesting him one night while the principal was acting as a stand-in babysitter.

The publicity surrounding that allegation prompted an adult man in his mid-40s to contact law enforcement about a similar incident he said occurred when he was 10 years old.

Although…

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NEW YORK
Riverdale Press

By Shant Shahrigian
Posted 4/30/15

Dozens of activists from throughout the state descended on Albany on April 22 to demand passage of the Child Victims Act, a long-stalled bill that would eliminate the criminal and civil statute of limitations for child sexual abuse and create a one-year window for past victims to seek justice.

“The current SOL [statute of limitations] prevents the arm of the law from extending beyond the walls of institutions like Horace Mann that conceal and cover up sexual abuse and discourages victims from reporting lurid, harmful crimes,” said Peter Brooks, a leading organizer for the Horace Mann Action Coalition (HMAC). The group has sought justice over decades of sexual abuse perpetrated by faculty members against more than 30 students.

Mr. Brooks attended the activists’ day along with Kevin Mulhearn, a lawyer who previously represented six Horace Mann graduates in settlement…

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NEW YORK
Riverdale Press

Posted 4/30/15

The Horace Mann School’s approach to child abuse by its own faculty members has been more like that of a cutthroat Wall Street firm than a caring educational institution.

Many of the dozens of victims who suffered at the hands of educators from the 1960s to the 1990s were too traumatized to inform the administration at the time of the crimes.

Those who did were often strongarmed into staying quiet.

Once a 2012 article in The New York Times showed the shocking extent of the abuse, survivors who came back to their alma mater seeking closure were treated to disdain and paltry offers of compensation.

The state’s draconian statute of limitations on child sexual abuse cases has only worsened things for victims at Horace Mann and other schools.

Under the current law, children who suffer sexual abuse have just five years after they…

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

May 1, 2015

Adam Cooper and Mark Russell

Victoria’s top prosecutor has launched an appeal on the grounds of leniency against a jail term imposed on former Christian Brother Ted Bales, who sexually assaulted 20 boys in his care.

Edward “Ted” Dowlan​, who changed his surname by deed poll to Bales in 2011, was sentenced in March to six years in jail, to serve a minimum three years before parole, after pleading guilty to 33 counts of indecently assaulting boys under 16 and one count of gross indecency.

His offending related to abusing 20 boys, some as young as eight, who were under Bales’ care at schools in Melbourne, Ballarat, Geelong and Warrnambool between 1971 and 1986. Victoria’s Director of Public Prosecutions, John Champion, SC, confirmed on Thursday he had launched an appeal against the jail term on the grounds the sentence was manifestly inadequate. County…

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ARGENTINA
La Voz

[The place of the church at the crossroads in the Ilarraz case.]

30/04/2015

– En 2010 firmó, junto a un grupo de curas, una carta a la Iglesia reclamando que Ilarraz fuera apartado como cura y que se lo denunciara en la Justicia; Hoy, es uno de los principales sostenes de las víctimas y un crítico de la curia; “Todavía se está a tiempo de dar un mensaje claro a la sociedad de lo que pasó y de los errores que se cometieron”, opina el padre Dumoulin

José Francisco Dumoulin es sacerdote desde 2000, cuando fue ordenado cura por el ahora cardenal Estanislao Esteban Karlic, actualmente es párroco en Santa Rosa de Lima de Villaguay, y en septiembre de 2010 puso su firma a una carta destinada a conmover el mundo eclesiástico paranaense.

El destinatario fue el entonces arzobispo Mario Maulión: un grupo de sacerdotes le…

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Big Trial

By Ralph Cipriano
for Bigtrial.net

Defense attorney Thomas A. Bergstrom was trying to convince Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina that she didn’t have the authority to send his client, Msgr. William J. Lynn, back to jail.

The judge, however, wasn’t buying it. “Bail revoked,” she ruled. The prisoner is “ordered back into custody.”

“Can you call for a sheriff please,” the judge cooly instructed a court officer. Then she disappeared back into chambers.

Moments later, a sheriff showed up to take away the monsignor, who had sat quietly with his head down during the half-hour proceedings. After 18 months in jail and 16 months of house arrest, the official scapegoat for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia was headed back to prison to continue his atonement for the sins of the church.

Judge Sarmina convened a hearing at 9 a.m. this morning in Courtroom…

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Reuters

HARRISBURG, PA. | BY DAVID DEKOK

(Reuters) – A high-ranking Catholic church official in Philadelphia was ordered back to prison on Thursday following the reinstatement of his conviction for turning a blind eye to child sex abuse by pedophile priests.

Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Teresa Sarmina revoked bail for Monsignor William Lynn, 64, and ordered him back behind bars.

Sarmina, who presided over his criminal trial, had sentenced Lynn in 2012 to three to six years in prison for endangering the welfare of children.

One of the highest-ranking clergyman convicted in the U.S. Roman Catholic Church child sex abuse scandal, Lynn is the first church official sent to prison for mishandling sexual misconduct complaints against priests.

Lynn, former secretary of the clergy for the Philadelphia Archdiocese who oversaw the work of 800 priests, was convicted of failing to supervise a pedophile priest who eventually…

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NEDERLAND
Telegraaf

[The Catholic Church hotline for sexual abuse victims will close down on Friday.]

UTRECHT –
Het Meldpunt Seksueel Misbruik in de Rooms-Katholieke Kerk is vanaf vrijdag gesloten. Slachtoffers die nog willen klagen over misbruik in de kerk moeten zich vanaf vrijdag bij hun eigen parochie of bij slachtoffergroepen als KLOKK melden. Klagen over overleden religieuzen of over zaken die ondertussen zijn verjaard, is formeel niet meer mogelijk.

Het meldpunt werd in 2011 in het leven geroepen, toen er steeds meer naar buiten kwam over seksuele wantoestanden op (kost-)scholen, in kerken en bij katholieke verenigingen. Sinds 2011 zijn ruim 3500 zaken behandeld, laat het meldpunt weten. Er is meer dan 18 miljoen euro aan schadevergoedingen uitgekeerd.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

Msgr. William Lynn, former top priest personnel aide for a dozen years to the Philadelphia Archdiocese’s Cardinals Justin Rigali and Anthony Bevilacqua and the first Catholic Church top official convicted in the clergy sex-abuse scandal, was ordered returned to prison by Teresa Sarmina, a judge educated at the Jesuit’s Georgetown Law and at Notre Dame’s St. Mary’s. “Well, I think things are back where they were when I sentenced Msgr. Lynn,” Sarmina said. “The same reasons I stated then exist.” “Somebody call for a sheriff,” the judge added, before leaving the bench.

Too bad no one earlier called the sheriff on Lynn’s cardinal bosses. Both cardinals managed to avoid prosecution for their aide’s misdeeds done apparently on their behalf. Bevilacqua died soon after giving a two day video deposition (that is still being kept secret, it appears) in the Lynn criminal case, and…

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Republic

11:45 a.m.

Victim advocates are praising a judge’s decision to send a Roman Catholic church official in Philadelphia back to prison.

A judge Thursday refused to grant a stay that would have allowed Monsignor William Lynn to remain free while he pursues other appeals.

The 64-year-old Lynn was convicted of child endangerment over his handling of priest abuse complaints. He had served half of a three-to-six-year sentence before a state court tossed his conviction in 2013. Pennsylvania’s highest court this week reversed the decision.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, better known as SNAP, called the order sending Lynn back to prison a “victory for vulnerable youngers.”

The group says it believes the action will do more to safeguard boys and girls than the church’s own abuse policies and protocols.

10:40 a.m.

A Roman Catholic church official has been ordered back to prison…

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PENNSYLVANIA
Patch

By JAMES BOYLE (Patch Staff)

April 30, 2015

A settlement has been reached between the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and a man who claims a priest sexually abused him while he attended St. Aloysius Academy in Bryn Mawr in the 1990s, according to Philly.com.

The undisclosed amount is one of two agreements reached by the Archdiocese this week, the first to be settled since reports of sexual abuse by clergy and cover-ups by the diocese were released by a 2011 grand jury.

According to the report, the plaintiff, identified as John Doe 10, alleged that Rev. Martin Satchel would take him to secluded classrooms and sexually abuse him. Satchel was removed from ministry in 1993 and defrocked by the church in 2005, according to Philly.com.

In a statement to philly.com, an archdiocese spokesperson said:

“For some time now, the archdiocese has provided assistance to both men on their…

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, April 29

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 862 7688 home, 314 503 0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com )

Child sex abuse and cover up lawsuits have settled involving two Philly priests. The question now is: What will Archbishop Charles Chaput and his top aides to do warn parishioners, parents and the public about them?

They might be prosecuted. Will Chaput help law enforcement do this? Or will he, as he’s done for years, do only what litigation forces him to do?

Chaput would not have settled these cases if he thinks these clerics are innocent. So since Chaput’s convinced they are guilty (as roughly 95% of accused priests are), why does he stop here? Why only write a check? Why won’t he…

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

By Steve Tawa

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Monsignor William Lynn, a onetime senior official in the Philadelphia Catholic archdiocese, is going back to prison now that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has reinstated his 2012 child endangerment conviction.

When Monsignor Lynn was convicted in 2012, he went to prison. But when Pennsylvania Superior Court reversed his conviction, Judge Teresa Sarmina, who heard the 13-week trial, released him on bail in early 2014.

Now that the state Supreme Court this week reversed that Superior Court ruling, assistant DA Patrick Blessington argued said Lynn should be returned to prison.

Defense attorney Thomas Bergstorm argued unsuccessfully that the high court only remanded the rest of the appelate issues to Superior Court, so Lynn should remain on house arrest, where he’s been for the last sixteen months, after about 1½ years in prison.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

JOSEPH A. SLOBODZIAN, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
POSTED: Thursday, April 30, 2015

Msgr. William J. Lynn, the first Catholic church official convicted in the clergy sex-abuse scandal, was order returned to prison Thursday by a Philadelphia judge.

Lynn, 64, seemed resigned to the decision of Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina, who in 2012 sentenced him to three to six years in prison for his conviction on endangering the welfare of children.

He turned to defense attorney Thomas A. Bergstrom with a half-smile and a shrug of his shoulders before he was taken in custody by sheriff’s deputies.

Bergstrom said he will file an emergency petition with the state Superior Court to allow Lynn to remain free on bail and on house arrest pending the outcome of further appeals of Monday’s state Supreme Court decision that reinstated Lynn’s guilty verdict.

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CALIFORNIA
Jewish Journal

by Jared Sichel

Mendel Tevel, who was arrested in Beverly Hills in Oct. 2013 and then extradited to Brooklyn on charges of sexual abuse stemming from an Apr. 2007 incident, pleaded guilty in a New York courtroom before Judge Elizabeth Foley on Apr. 24 to two counts of criminal sexual acts in the third degree, according to Lupe Todd, a spokeswoman for the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office.

In Aug. 2013, the Jewish Journal published an investigative report on Tevel—who is now 31 or 32—in which four of his alleged victims detailed apparent instances of sexual abuse that ranged from about 1995 to about 2004. The ages of the alleged victims ranged from 6 to 14. Allegations against Tevel first became public in October 2012, when Meyer Seewald, the 26-year-old founder of Jewish Community Watch, listed him on the group’s “Wall of Shame”—a website that spotlights people…

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PENNSYLVANIA
Philadelphia Magazine

By Joel Mathis | April 30, 2015

This week’s reinstatement of Monsignor William Lynn’s conviction on child endangerment charges will have repercussions in the cases of three former Penn State officials facing similar charges in the Jerry Sandusky case, PennLive reports.

Lynn had argued that he could not be charged under Pennsylvania statute since he never cared directly for children, but instead supervised those who did. Former Penn State President Graham Spanier, former Senior Vice President for Business and Finance Gary Schultz and former Athletic Director Tim Curley were expected to mount a similar defense.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Daily Times

BREAKING!

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Monsignor William Lynn, the only Roman Catholic church official charged and convicted in the church child sexual abuse scandal, has been ordered back to prison after his Pennsylvania conviction over the handling of abuse complaints was reinstated.

A judge Thursday refused to grant a stay that would have allowed Monsignor William Lynn of Philadelphia to remain free while he pursues other appeals.

Lynn has served half of a 3-to-6-year sentence for felony child endangerment. He’s been on house arrest since the state Superior Court tossed his conviction.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Republic

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
April 30, 2015

PHILADELPHIA — A Roman Catholic church official has been ordered back to prison after his Pennsylvania conviction over the handling of abuse complaints was reinstated.

A judge Thursday refused to grant a stay that would have allowed Monsignor William Lynn of Philadelphia to remain free while he pursues other appeals.

Lynn has served half of a 3-to-6-year sentence for felony child endangerment. He’s been on house arrest since the state Superior Court tossed his conviction.

The state Supreme Court reversed that decision Monday.

Lynn is the first U.S. church official prosecuted over his handling of abuse complaints.

Philadelphia Common Pleas Judge M. Teresa Sarmina scolded Lynn at his 2012 sentencing for failing to stand up to his bishops amid the priest sex-abuse scandal.

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INDIANA
Herald Journal

Tom Tiernan

A former Idaville pastor was arrested yesterday morning and charged with four counts ranging from child solicitation, child molesting and sexual misconduct.

James E. Crawn, 45, was arrested at 8:10 a.m. on warrants issued by White County Superior Court after a criminal investigation by White County Sheriff’s Detective David Roth, Monticello Police Detective Jason Lingenfelter and the White County Department of Child Services.

He is accused of sexual misconduct with two males, both under the age of 16 at the time the alleged offenses took place, according to the White County Prosecutor’s Office.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 30 April 2015 (VIS) – During the last meeting of the Council of Cardinals to assist the Holy Father in the governance of the universal Church and to draw up a plan for the revision of the apostolic constitution “Pastor bonus” on the Roman Curia (13-15 April 2015), the final report of the committee charged with proposing reform of Vatican communications, the so-called Vatican Media Committee (VMC), was examined.

The Council of Cardinals subsequently proposed to His Holiness the institution of a commission to study this final report and to suggest feasible approaches to its implementation. The proposal was favourably accepted by the Holy Father, who on 23 April decided to institute the commission and to appoint its members.

The new commission will be chaired by Msgr. Dario Edoardo Vigano, director of the Vatican Television Centre, and its members will be: Paolo…

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Pope’s New Media Men Must Get Him To Do More Than Talk About His “Silenced Catholics”: Poor Children & Women

Jerry Slevin

The pope’s new media public relations commission (all male and mostly clerics) most get the pope to act, not just talk, about the plight of his silenced and oft forgotten Catholics — poor children and women. Any chance? Is Pope Francis unaware of the plight of many millions of women and children, often desperate as a consequence of his continuing self interested papal ideology of hierarchical male oppression? The pope often seems to be unaware in practice of their plight, despite his occasional crafted public relations pronouncements and staged photo ops. Pope Francis should either get some better script writers, preferably some mothers, or get used to being described as insincere, if not hypocritical.

In his recent Wednesday talk to tourists, Francis spoke…

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Fox 4

[with video]

APRIL 30, 2015, BY KATHY QUINN

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Survivor’s Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) is set to hold a news conference on the sidewalk outside of the Chancery late Thursday morning.

SNAP said they will release documentation at the news conference to support their claim that Archbishop Joseph Naumann will not approach sexual abuse claims differently than Bishop Robert Finn.

Bishop Finn resigned last week after a controversy over his convictions for failing to report sexual abuse allegations.

Archbishop Naumann has temporarily been filling in for Bishop Finn of the Diocese of Kansas City St. Joseph since the resignation. Archbishop Naumann will lead the diocese until a replacement is announced.

The news conference is scheduled for 11:15 a.m. Thursday.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic Culture

At the recommendation of the nine-member Council of Cardinals, which is advising Pope Francis in the reform of the Roman Curia, Pope Francis has instituted a new commission to reform the Vatican’s media operations.

The president of the commission is Msgr. Dario Edoardo Viganò, the director of Vatican Television Center.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

By Steve Tawa

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – The Philadelphia District Attorney’s office will ask a judge today to send Monsignor William Lynn back to prison, now that the State Supreme Court has reinstated his 2012 child endangerment conviction.

The DA’s office wants Common Pleas Judge Teresa Sarmina, the presiding judge who sentenced Lynn to three-to-six years in prison, to revoke his bail.

He spent about 18 months in prison, but has been on house arrest since early 2014, living in a Northeast Philadelphia rectory after Superior Court reversed his conviction.

Lynn served in his capacity as secretary for clergy from 1992 to 2004, yet defense attorney Thomas Bergstrom says he was prosecuted on an amended child endangerment statute passed in 2007.

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ARGENTINA/CIUDAD DEL VATICANO
Tiempo en Linea

El papa Francisco está muy pendiente de Argentina, recibe a personas relevantes de este país cada semana y tiene un papel destacado, en la sombra, en la política nacional.

Ahora Francisco ha decidido tener un gran protagonismo en el asunto más delicado, el de los desaparecidos de la dictadura. El colaborador más estrecho del Papa, Guillermo Karcher, el hombre que suele utilizar para enviar sus mensajes a Argentina, ha confirmado en una entrevista a Radio América que Francisco está dispuesto a abrir los archivos de la Iglesia sobre la dictadura argentina y ya se está trabajando en una fórmula para hacerlo de manera generalizada.

La Iglesia fue clave porque era el lugar al que llegaban las denuncias de las madres y familiares de desaparecidos y es probable que también se conserven las gestiones que hicieron los religiosos ante el régimen militar.

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VATICAN CITY/ARGENTINA
Telesur

Relatives of the thousands of victims killed by the military regime could finally discover the fate of their loved ones.

Pope Francis has ordered the Vatican to open its files relating to Argentina’s military dictatorship, according to church officials Wednesday.

This move could lead to the clarification on the fate of tens of thousands disappeared under the military regime, who ushered in a period of state terrorism from 1974 to 1983.

The information was revealed by Father Guillermo Karcher, an Argentinian priest and pontifical usher that has known the Pope for over 20 years. Karcher said the pope wished “for something to be done,” adding that the secretariat of state – who is taking charge of the case – has already begun on declassifying the Vatican archives related to Argentina’s dictatorship.

Human rights groups say up to 30,000 people were kidnapped, murdered or disappeared during the…

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Daily Times

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A Roman Catholic church official could be sent back to prison over his handling of abuse complaints after his Pennsylvania conviction was reinstated.

Monsignor William Lynn of Philadelphia will ask to remain free Thursday while he pursues other appeals.

Lynn has served half of a three- to six-year sentence for felony child endangerment. He has been on house arrest since the state Superior Court threw out his conviction.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Legal Intelligencer

P.J. D’Annunzio, The Legal Intelligencer
April 30, 2015

Two plaintiffs in civil cases alleging they had been abused by priests from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia have settled their lawsuits against the church for an undisclosed amount.

According to the accusers’ attorney and the dockets in the cases, the settlements concluded the cases of John Doe 10 and John Doe 187, who claimed they were the victims of sexual abuse perpetrated by archdiocese clerics. Malvern-based attorney Daniel Monahan represents the plaintiffs and said the terms of the settlement remain confidential at the wishes of his clients.

Monahan said the cases settled on the eve of trial, but the archdiocese gave no indication as to its reason for settling.

According to the complaints, Doe 187, a former altar boy at the Incarnation of Our Lord parish, alleged that Father William Ayres abused him in different…

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
KMBZ

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) are upset over Bishop Finn being allowed to oversee the ordination of his replacement.

This afternoon the group that is fighting the sex scandal in the Catholic church protested outside diocese headquarters.

The group says Finn should not preside over next month’s ordination of priests and deacons.

SNAP outreach coordinator Barbara Dorris says the group has received numerous calls opposing Finn’s appearance at the two public ceremonies.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
KSHB

KANSAS CITY – A group of Catholics is speaking out against the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese after it was announced Bishop Robert Finn will still preside over some deacon ordinations next month despite his resignation.

SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, gathered outside the diocese downtown Wednesday to protest.

Members of SNAP said allowing Bishop Finn to preside over the ordinations reopens victims’ wounds. The group is also worried the ceremonies will lead to Bishop Finn taking back his old responsibilities.

“If he resigns, is he allowed to do ordinations? Is he also going to be doing confirmations, is he going to run the diocese?” Barbara Dorris, the Victims Outreach Director with SNAP, said. “We have no idea. The resignation seems to be purely symbolic. A PR move.”

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MINNESOTA
Washington Times

By – Associated Press – Thursday, April 30, 2015

NEW ULM, Minn. (AP) – A man is suing the Archdiocese of New Ulm on accusations a nun who’s now dead sexually abused him in the 1960s.

It’s the first case involving a nun filed under a state law temporarily lifting the statute of limitations on child sex abuse lawsuits.

The Shakopee man’s lawsuit claims Sister Mary Regina Hebig inappropriately touched him repeatedly when he was a fifth grader at a Madison Catholic school.

The diocese said in a written statement that it’s committed to offering help to anyone who says they’re a victim of sexual misconduct. It says that it wasn’t involved in hiring employees at the school.

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MONTANA
Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena

As one of the non-monetary terms for resolving the cases brought against the Diocese (Whalen, et al. v. Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena, et al., and Does, et al. v. Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena, et al.), the Diocese of Helena has agreed that: “For a period of not less than ten (10) years from the Effective Date, the Diocese will post on its website home page the names of all known past and present alleged perpetrators of the Diocese who are identified in the Sexual Abuse Claims or the complaints filed in the Whalen and Does cases as child sexual abusers between the 1930s and 1970s.”

The Diocese also is listing priests against whom accusations of sexual abuse of minors have been made only to the Diocese. Should additional information come to light, the list will be modified accordingly.

The Diocese hopes…

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MONTANA
Independent Record

The Diocese of Helena posted an online list Wednesday of every employee accused of sexually abusing a minor while working there.

The list dates back to the 1930s and includes the names of 80 priests, Ursuline Sisters, lay workers and others. A settlement between the Diocese and hundreds of victims requires that the names be posted and remain pinned to the Diocese homepage for the next decade.

Dan Bartleson, spokesman for the Diocese, said this is the latest stride in the “victim oriented approach” the Diocese has taken throughout the litigation process.

“We feel like this step is one of the more difficult steps for the Diocese in that some of these names will leave questions for the faithful,” Bartleson said. “It’s difficult to think of someone you grew up with who was good to you and your family being accused of sexual abuse, but we…

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UNITED STATES
The Jerusalem Post

The haredi (ultra-Orthodox) community in the US has made major strides in coming to terms with the issue of child sexual abuse, a prominent community activist told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday.

According to Rabbi Yakov Horowitz, the New Yorkbased founder of Project YES, a program for at-risk youth loosely affiliated with Agudath Israel of America, the progress made among both the hassidic and Lithuanian Orthodox communities has been “extraordinary.”

“It’s not even comparable” to the situation that obtained when he first began advocating for stronger measures to be taken in combating pedophiles, Horowitz told The Jerusalem Post.

“Twelve years ago, when I started writing about this, the vast majority of people thought that I had lost my mind, including some of my closest friends,” he said.

While he agreed that there was certainly “a long way to go” on the issue, he said…

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NEW YORK
Times Herald-Record

By HEATHER YAKIN
Times Herald-Record

Posted Apr. 29, 2015 a

MONTICELLO – A judge has lowered bail against a rabbinical student charged with sexually assaulting an 11-year-old boy in Sullivan County.

Haim Boukris, 29, of South Fallsburg, was arrested April 23 on a sealed indictment charging him with three counts of predatory sexual assault against a child and first-degree sexual abuse, felonies. He appeared in Sullivan County Court on Wednesday morning so his lawyer, Kenneth Gribetz of Gribetz & Loewenberg in New City, could argue for his $1 million bail to be lowered.

Boukris is studying at a South Fallsburg yeshiva to be ordained as a rabbi.

On Wednesday afternoon, Sullivan County District Attorney Jim Farrell said Boukris is charged with sexually assaulting the boy in the spring of 2011, in one incident. Farrell said he argued to keep the bail at $1 million….

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CALIFORNIA
Daily Bulletin

By Beatriz Valenzuela, San Bernardino Sun
POSTED: 04/29/15

RANCHO CUCAMONGA >> A former social worker who reportedly is also a worship leader at a San Bernardino church has been arrested on suspicion of sexually abusing a child, and investigators fear he may have victimized other children, sheriff’s officials said.

Dexter Carl Pleasure, 51, of Rancho Cucamonga was arrested early Tuesday morning at the sheriff’s Rancho Cucamonga station, according to booking records.

Rancho Cucamonga authorities were first tipped off about the alleged abuse on Monday when they received a report from the Child Abuse Hotline, sheriff’s officials said.

The report came from what is termed a mandated reporter who described possible sexual abuse of a child under the age of 10.

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CALIFORNIA
NBC Los Angeles

By Michelle Valles and Kelly Goff

A former social worker and church worship leader is accused of sexually abusing a child over several years, and detectives believe there may be more victims.

Dexter Carl Pleasure, 51, of Rancho Cucamonga, was arrested Monday and charged with oral copulation of a child under the age of 10 and continual sexual abuse of a child under the age of 10.

Pleasure worked for more than 20 years as social worker with a private foster care agency, and had access to numerous children over the years, according to the Rancho Cucamonga Police Department.
Pleasure’s relationship with the known victim has not been disclosed.

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OREGON
Oregonian

By Rick Bella | The Oregonian/OregonLive
on April 29, 2015

The wife of embattled Pastor Mike Sperou testified Wednesday that she still doesn’t believe her daughter’s claim that her husband sexually abused her when she was growing up in his Happy Valley church.

Judy Sperou, mother of alleged victim Amy Robinson, told a Multnomah County jury that she has remained loyal to the man she married after her daughter told police in 1997 that she had been molested.

“I didn’t believe her then,” Judy Sperou told prosecutor Chris Mascal, who then asked if she believed her daughter now.

“No.”

Judy Sperou, a teacher for North Clackamas Bible Community, is among five parents who discounted their daughters’ claims of abuse and remained in leadership roles at the church. The disagreements have split families and triggered an exodus from the church, which Pastor Mike Sperou continues to lead.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Daily News

MORGAN ZALOT, DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER ZALOTM@PHILLYNEWS.COM, 215-854-5928
POSTED: Thursday, April 30, 2015

IN WHAT THEIR attorney called a “significant step” in the healing process of two survivors of child sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic priests, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia has settled the first civil suits filed in 2011 after a damning grand-jury report on sex abuse by area priests.

The settlements with survivors – identified in court documents as John Doe 10 and John Doe 187 – were made earlier this year, the second coming in February the day before jury selection was to begin for the trials in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, said attorney Dan Monahan, who represented both men. Monahan and attorney Jeff Anderson announced the settlements yesterday.

Monahan said the settlements mark a significant development for both men, now in their 30s, as both came…

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MINNESOTA
KEYC

By Kassandra Sepeda, News Reporter

A 58-year-old Shakopee man goes public with allegations that he was sexually abused by a nun decades ago.

Now he’s suing the Diocese of New Ulm and an order of nuns.

As part of highly religious family, the plaintiff, then 10-year-old, Douglas Devorak says to have shared his story sooner would have torn his family apart.

“They entrusted their son’s religious and moral education to these people for me to tell them that one of the people they trusted abused me. They would’ve never forgave themselves,” says Devorak.

Now after 48 years, Devorak has filed a civil law suit against the Diocese of New Ulm and The School sisters of Notre Dame.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Mercury

In the last month, convictions of two priests who were found guilty of charges related to child sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia have been upheld by higher courts.

In 2013, the Rev. Charles Engelhardt, a member of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, was convicted of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old altar boy at St. Jerome Roman Catholic Church in northeast Philadelphia from 1998 to 1999 while the priest was in residence there.

Engelhardt denied the allegations and appealed the verdict, but died last November of an apparent heart condition while in the second year of a six-to-12-year sentence at the Coal Township Prison in Northumberland County.

State law required that the priest’s appeal be continued. On March 25, the Pennsylvania Superior Court affirmed Engelhardt’s convictions of endangering the welfare of a child, corruption of a minor and indecent assault.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Road to Recovery

Deacon/Priest Assistant Ricardo Gonzalez is expected to plead guilty on Thursday, April 30, 2015 at 9:00 AM in Suffolk Superior Court, Criminal Division, Three Pemberton Square, Boston, MA for sexually abusing two minor children while assigned to Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Our Lady of the Assumption Parishes in East Boston, MA

Two childhood victims of clergy sexual abuse by Deacon/Priest Assistant Ricardo Gonzalez of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish and Our Lady of the Assumption Parish, East Boston, MA expect to finally obtain justice if Deacon/Priest Assistant Ricardo Gonzalez pleads guilty on April 30, 2015 to sexually abusing them

What
The expected guilty plea and sentencing of Archdiocese of Boston Deacon/Priest Assistant Ricardo Gonzalez, who sexually abused two minor children in two East Boston, MA Catholic parishes

When
Thursday, April 30, 2015 at 9:00 AM

Where
Suffolk Superior Court,…

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MINNESOTA
CBS Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A man who says he was sexually abused by a nun spoke out on Wednesday as part of the first civil lawsuit in Minnesota filed against an order of Catholic nuns.

Douglas Devorak, 58, of Shakopee, says the abuse happened when he was 10 years old at St. Michael’s Catholic School in Madison, Minnesota.

He was in fifth grade in 1967, and Devorak says sister Mary Regina repeatedly assaulted him in the boys’ bathroom and in the classroom.

Devorak’s lawsuit is also filed against the Diocese of New Ulm.

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

04/29/2015

Jennifer Haselberger

I recently had a conversation where the topic of Catholic confession was discussed at length. Since I was not able, given the context of the conversation, to provide citations or references, I thought that I would take the opportunity to post the same on this blog. This post might be of little interest to many of you, but priests might want to review some of the materials attached.

One of the questions that came up during this conversation was about the differences between sacramental confession and other forms of communication between individuals, including between individuals and priests, or even two priests speaking together. I was at pains to explain that reconciliation is a ritual, and therefore there is a prescribed formula that must be followed which establishes that the exchange is sacramental in nature rather than purely conversational or even an appeal for…

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Curtis Gilbert Apr 29, 2015

The Archdiocese of New Ulm faces a lawsuit over alleged sexual abuse by a nun in the 1960s. It’s the first case involving a nun filed under a Minnesota law temporarily lifting the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse lawsuits.

Doug Devorak claims Sister Mary Regina Hebig repeatedly fondled him when he was a fifth grader at St. Michael’s Catholic School in Madison, Minn.

Devorak, 57, said he kept it a secret for decades out of respect for his parents.

“Our parents trusted these people with our moral and religious upbringing,” he said. “And people say, ‘Well Doug, why did you wait so long?’ The answer’s real simple. My parents couldn’t have taken that.”

Devorak’s parents are both dead, as is Hebig. Officials with the Diocese of New Ulm say the diocese was not aware of any complaints…

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BOSTON (MA)
Boston Catholic Insider

For those who have not yet heard, Holy Trinity Church, the former home of the German Catholic Community and the Traditional Latin Mass is being redeveloped into boutique condos. We posted last June that the property was up for sale, and in November we learned it had been sold, however the identity of the developer was not yet publicly available. Oddly, the archdiocese has not announced the sale price, or what will become of the millions of dollars of proceeds. Now the plans are up for approval by the Boston Redevelopment Authority. A picture of the proposed development can be found below.

Here is what has been written about the proposed plans. In “You Could Soon Live in This 19th Century South End Church” we learn:

Finegold Alexander + Associates, Inc. is hoping to transform the former Holy Trinity German Catholic Church and Rectory…

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DEUTSCHLAND
Wochen Spiegel

[Laymen and experts as theologians, educators or psychologists discuss topics including the sexual morality of the Catholic Church, existing tensions in practice and possible credible future prospects. “The church is no longer in demand in matters of sexuality as an institution,” was the finding of Münster sex educator Ann-Kathrin Kahle.]

Offizielle Sexualmoral der katholischen Kirche kontra tatsächliches Liebesleben der Menschen: Um dieses Spannungsfeld ging es jetzt beim Forum “Sexualität. Leben” im Rahmen der Bistumssynode.

Laien und Experten wie Theologen, Pädagogen oder Psychologen diskutierten unter anderem über die Sexualmoral der katholischen Kirche, bestehende Spannungen in der Praxis und mögliche glaubwürdige Zukunftsperspektiven. “Die Kirche ist in Fragen der Sexualität als Institution nicht mehr gefragt”, lautete der Befund der Münsteraner Sexualpädagogin Ann-Kathrin Kahle. Ihre Aufgabe sei es, Menschen zu begleiten, nicht sie zu verurteilen, sagte Ethik-Professorin Sigrid Müller aus Wien. Details sind unter www.bistum-trier.de zu finden.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Westfalische Nachrichten

[Suspected sexual abuse in two dioceses.]

Münster/Freiburg –
Der Fall wirkt verfahren. Er zeigt, wie schwer es ist, der Wahrheit auf den Grund zu kommen und dem Leid eines Menschen gerecht zu werden. Es geht, wie die „Badische Zeitung“ in Freiburg berichtet, um den Fall einer 48-jährigen Frau, die sich nach langem inneren Kampf im Sommer 2014 an das Erzbistum Freiburg wendet. Sie wird gequält von Erinnerungen aus ihrer Kindheit im Bistum Münster. Ein Priester, Freund der Familie, habe sie als junges Mädchen in den 1970er Jahren über einen langen Zeitraum vielfach sexuell missbraucht.

Von Johannes Loy 

Die Frau vertraut sich der Missbrauchsbeauftragten des Erzbistums Freiburg an, die das Gesprächsprotokoll mit einer eidesstattlichen Erklärung an die zuständige Kommission für „Fälle des sexuellen Missbrauchs Minderjähriger durch Geistliche“ im Bistum Münster weiterleitet. Denn der Beschuldigte ist Priester des Bistums Münster, Mitte 70, und nach wie vor in…

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DEUTSCHLAND
EPD

[Catholic child protection officer: pent-up demand for prevention.]

Bei der Prävention von sexuellem Missbrauch an Kindern sieht der erste Kinderschutzbeauftragte des Vatikans, Hans Zollner, in vielen Ländern noch Nachholbedarf. “Vielerorts wird ernsthaft an der Aufarbeitung von Missbrauchsfällen gearbeitet und konsequente Präventionsarbeit geleistet”, sagte der Psychologieprofessor und Jesuitenpater der “Hannoverschen Allgemeinen Zeitung” (Mittwochsausgabe). Das sei allerdings nicht überall der Fall.

In großen Teilen Afrikas, Asiens und teilweise in Lateinamerika sei sexueller Missbrauch an Minderjährigen bisher noch ein Thema, das nicht öffentlich diskutiert werde. Dort müssten Verantwortliche in Staat, Gesellschaft und Kirche erst ein Problembewusstsein entwickeln, um effektiv und entschlossen gegen Missbrauch vorzugehen.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, April 29, 2015

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

We believe Msgr. William Lynn should go back to prison because it’s just and the best way to deter others who may conceal.

[Philadelphia Inquirer]

One could argue that those who conceal child sex crimes are more culpable than those who commit them. Predators are often sick individuals with a virtually uncontrollable compulsion to assault kids. Enablers, however, are presumably otherwise healthy individuals who deliberately choose to hurt kids by ignoring, hiding and, in effect, facilitating predators.

We suspect no penalty will stop the Fr. Edward Averys from molesting. (That’s why prison is important: it’s the only sure-fire way to keep predators away from prey.) But we’re…

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

A valuable piece of commentary from Peter Isely of SNAP Wisconsin, in his Facebook feed recently, about the resignation of Bishop Robert Finn and the pomegranate seed: Peter notes that the leaders of the Catholic church are divided into two teams, team Benedict and team Francis, one the “traditionalist tough guy” team, the other the “moderate” team. And because teams vie to be winners, making other teams losers, and because winners and losers continuously shift, there’s a whole lot of politicking and image-making and face-saving going on.

And then there are the survivors of childhood clerical abuse. And there’s justice, which these win-lose political games are almost never about:

Justice is something altogether different than this kind of two party politics. Justice doesn’t have teams. It doesn’t take the side of the exploited, the oppressed, and the dispossessed because justice is the…

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BELGIUM
National Catholic Reporter

Jonathan Luxmoore Catholic News Service | Apr. 29, 2015

OXFORD, ENGLAND A Belgian bishop said the president of the bishops’ conference urged Catholics to respect a court judgment against him for failing to act on allegations of abuse.

However, Auxiliary Bishop Jean Kockerols of Mechelen-Brussels also said the ruling provoked concern that it could spur more claims for damages, and he said it would take a while for the church to regain credibility.

“Our church set up a special commission to investigate such cases, which will soon complete its work,” Kockerols told Catholic News Service, adding that he believed the Belgian church’s procedures for combating abuse were now robust.

“After the damage we’ve suffered from these cases, it’ll take us 10-20 years to regain our credibility as a church. What’s important in the meantime is that we’re not intimidated into silence. When you’re walking a…

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Jamie Manson | Apr. 29, 2015 Grace on the Margins

For the past 15 years, Fr. Donald Cozzens has distinguished himself as a commentator on religious and cultural issues, especially those relating to the sexual and financial crises gripping the Catholic church. His best-selling book The Changing Face of the Priesthood exploded onto the religious publishing scene in 2000, receiving both broad acclaim and fierce critique — and changing the direction of his ministry as a priest.

He went on to write four more books, including Sacred Silence: Denial and the Crisis in the Church (2002) and Notes From the Underground: The Spiritual Journal of a Secular Priest (2013). He now travels widely, lecturing on the upheavals engulfing the Catholic church and leading retreats for priests and religious. He is also a writer-in-residence and adjunct professor at John Carroll University in Ohio.

In Cozzens’…

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Survivor Advocates Coalition

Editorial

We read with astonishment that Bishop Robert Finn will preside at the ordinations of seven seminaries in the Kansas City- St. Joseph Diocese in May because Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann who temporarily has charge of this diocese has a scheduling conflict.

Tone deaf is a profound understatement on this matter.

We understand that Bishop Finn has the power to ordain these seminarians regardless of his “voluntary” resignation that was accepted by Pope Francis.

But what in heaven’s name makes anyone in the power structure or the pews of the Roman Catholic Church think this is acceptable?

This is about as acceptable as Richard Nixon presiding over a Cabinet meeting for Gerald Ford or signing an executive order because Ford had some work on Capitol Hill that he had previously scheduled.

We get that Archbishop Naumann already has ordinations scheduled. ‘Tis the…

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

JOSEPH A. SLOBODZIAN, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
POSTED: Wednesday, April 29, 2015

A Philadelphia judge will hear arguments Thursday about whether Msgr. William J. Lynn should return to prison.

The hearing was set by Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina, who presided over the landmark 13-week trial in 2012 in which Lynn, 64, was found guilty of child endangerment for his role supervising priests accused of sexually abusing children.

Sarmina sentenced Lynn to three to six years in prison and he served about 18 months before being released on house arrest on Jan. 2, 2014, after the Pennsylvania Superior Court reversed his conviction. Lynn has lived since in the rectory of St. William, a parish in Lawncrest in the Northeast.

On Monday, however, the state Supreme Court reinstated the conviction and the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office immediately moved to revoke his bail and return…

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CHICAGO (IL)
CBS Chicago

CHICAGO (CBS) — Chicago police were investigating after a baseball player at a Catholic high school on the Far South Side allegedly was sexually assaulted by several teammates last month, and 12 students have been suspended in connection with the incident.

A source said the victim was sodomized in the locker room at St. Francis de Sales High School, at 10155 S. Ewing Av.

A dozen varsity baseball players at the school were suspended this week. A letter to parents said the players were accused of bullying, or failing to report bullying, but Chicago police said they were notified of a sexual assault at the school.

Chicago police said an 18-year-old allegedly was sexually assaulted by five other males on March 23, at approximately 3 p.m., but the parents of the victim and the school did not report the attack to police until Tuesday. Area…

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

MATT GELB, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
LAST UPDATED: Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Two lawsuits alleging sexual abuse of minors by priests from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia were settled for an undisclosed amount, lawyers announced Wednesday.

The suits, the first settled since a 2011 grand jury investigation of sex abuse allegations in the archdiocese, were filed by the victims before they turned 30 – keeping them in line with Pennsylvania’s statute of limitations.

The plaintiffs, identified as John Doe 10 and John Doe 187, requested the settlement amounts be confidential.

“Nobody ever recovers from this kind of sexual abuse,” said Dan Monahan, one of their lawyers. “But fortunately, both of these young men have really gained a certain amount of power and are no longer living in silence.

“They have moved on with their lives. They are stronger as a result of stepping forward. They are…

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

For a celibate bachelor, Pope Francis perhaps understandably cannot seem to shake his problems with women and children. Too many children are still being “bred” under the pope’s contraception ban for a warming climate and finite world to absorb. Moreover, some of the “excess” children become easy targets of clerical predators that the pope and his bishops seem unwilling and/or unable to control. This was evident from the recent Philadelphia news confirming the conviction for endangering children of the longtime top priest personnel aide to shamed Philly Cardinals Justin Rigali and Anthony Bevilacqua.

The aide took the fall for his two cardinal bosses, it appears. As the Georgetown Law graduate judge told the aide after his jury conviction, he should have stood up to his bishops, Rigali and Bevilacqua presumably. Instead, she said, Lynn had enabled “monsters in clerical garb to destroy the…

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

BY YAEL T. ABOUHALKAH- ABOUHALKAH@KCSTAR.COM

04/28/2015

Bishop Robert Finn should not be allowed to participate in the priestly ordinations next month of deacons in the Catholic church.

Robert W. Finn is a disgraced Catholic bishop who has announced his resignation as leader of the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese. He should not be presiding at the priestly ordinations of new deacons next month.

Yet, he is scheduled to do just that.

It’s a repulsive, reckless and yet a par-for-the-course decision by the local Catholic hierarchy, especially the new temporary leader of the diocese, Archbishop Joseph F. Naumman.

The event scheduled for May 23 is a slap in the face to the victims of child abuse at the hands of local Catholic priests over the years and the families of those victims.

It also sends the wrong message to the community at large, the…

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Peter Isely | Apr. 29, 2015 Examining the Crisis

Mindful of Aristotle’s caution that one swallow does not a summer make, there is still good reason to celebrate that after years of intense activism, advocacy and grass-roots organizing from abuse survivors, advocates, Catholic clergy and parishioners, the Vatican has finally, formally and unceremoniously removed Bishop Robert Finn from the beleaguered diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo.

This is a kind of move the Vatican is always loath to make since it raises serious questions about the divine hand in episcopal promotions. Thus, there was only one paltry sentence in the statement about it from the Vatican. So much for a teaching moment.

That Finn was convicted of child endangerment and was publicly exposed for breaking signed promises to victims of clergy sex crimes negotiated in civil settlements certainly helped, proving once again that when…

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Independent

KASHMIRA GANDER Author Biography Wednesday 29 April 2015

The judge leading an independent inquiry into child sex abuse by members of the establishment, is to investigate claims made against Lord Greville Janner.

The probe could see Justice Lowell Goddard call the former MP, 86, to court to give evidence, following a controversial decision by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) not to try him because his dementia is too severe.

However, Justice Goddard indicated the inquiry will consider medical evidence before taking a decision on whether to call the peer to be interviewed, and said she will likely enlist medics to make the decision.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Tom Roberts | Apr. 29, 2015

WASHINGTON The number of clergy sex abuse cases in the Catholic church in the United States continues to decline, and most of those newly reported stem from the 1960s through the 1980s, according to the latest report on how dioceses are complying with the ongoing requirements of the U.S. bishops’ 2002 Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.

The generally positive news in the report is tempered, however, by cautions against complacency from both Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Francesco C. Cesareo, chairman of the National Review Board for the Protection of Children and Young People.

And, as has been the case for the 12 years the audit has been performed, the review board is forced to report that the church in the United States is not in…

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on a piece today by an editorial writer for the Kansas City Star:

Yael T. Abouhalkah’s mother should have told her son to mind his own business. He writes for the notoriously anti-Catholic newspaper, the Kansas City Star, and is now lecturing Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas about his decision to have Bishop Robert Finn preside at two ordinations in May; Finn recently resigned as Bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph, and Naumann is the apostolic administrator of the diocese.

Archbishop Naumann will be celebrating the ordination of priests in his own diocese on the same day that the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph is holding its ordinations. That is why he asked Bishop Finn to preside over his former diocese. As well he should: not only is Bishop Finn a bishop in good standing in the Catholic Church,…

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UNITED STATES
Crux

By John L. Allen Jr.
Associate editor April 29, 2015

Back in 2002, at the peak of the sexual abuse crisis in the American church, then-Bishop Wilton Gregory of Belleville, Ill., at the time the president of the US bishops’ conference, was in Rome. Every journalist on the planet wanted an interview, and my friend Jim Bittermann from CNN was lucky enough to score one.

I asked Bittermann if I could tag along to his appointment at the North American College, the American seminary in Rome, figuring it was the only way I would get access to Gregory on that trip. (Even though I worked for a competing publication, I was a regular on CNN.) Bittermann agreed, and so we set off.

We got as far as the inner courtyard at the NAC, which is where we ran into the unmovable Sister Mary Ann Walsh,…

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

by SNAP outreach director Barbara Dorris

We applaud the few Kansas City priests who are speaking up against the plan by three top Catholic officials – including Pope Francis’ US representative – to let Bishop Robert Finn preside over two ordinations next month.

We beg more Kansas City priests – and parishioners – to join this effort.

We beg the church hierarchy to listen to their cries.

We beg the soon-to-be-ordained deacons to speak up and oppose this too.

And we beg Pope Francis to name a permanent head of the diocese who is a parish priest, not a church bureaucrat.

The temporary head of the diocese, Archbishop Joseph Naumann, told the Kansas City Star “Bishop Finn resigned, and the Holy See has accepted it. But he doesn’t disappear from the face of the Earth. … He still is…

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MINNESOTA
Patrick Noaker

PRESS CONFERENCE: 2:00 p.m., Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Where: Minneapolis attorney Patrick Noaker’s office, 333 Washington
Ave. N., Suite 300
First case filed under new law against nuns.
Victim to speak with reporters
____________________________________________________________________________
(MINNEAPOLIS, April 29, 2015) – Attorneys filed a new civil lawsuit against an order of nuns, and the Diocese of New Ulm, alleging sexual abuse of a 10-year-old boy repeatedly molested by a nun at a Catholic school in Madison, Minnesota.

This is the first civil lawsuit filed against an order of nuns under Minnesota’s new law for sex-abuse victims.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of a 58-year-old man from Shakopee, Minnesota, alleges that a nun repeatedly abused the boy in his fifth-grade year, from the fall of 1967 through spring 1968, at St. Michael’s Catholic School in Madison, Minnesota.

Court papers say Sister Mary…

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MINNESOTA
Patrick Noaker

Noaker Law Firm and James, Vernon & Weeks law firms filed a new civil lawsuit against an order of nuns, and the Diocese of New Ulm, alleging sexual abuse of a 10-year-old boy repeatedly molested by a nun at a Catholic school in Madison, Minnesota.

This is the first civil lawsuit filed against an order of nuns under Minnesota’s new law for sex-abuse victims.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of a 58-year-old man from Shakopee, Minnesota, alleges that a nun repeatedly abused the boy in his fifth-grade year, from the fall of 1967 through spring 1968, at St. Michael’s Catholic School in Madison, Minnesota.

Complaint against Diocese of New Ulm and School Sisters of Notre Dame

Press Release

Photograph of St. Michael’s Catholic Church and School

Photograph of Doug Devorak family

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ARKANSAS
Jessica Arbour

SUIT ALLEGES THAT PASTOR SEXUALLY EXPLOITED A VULNERABLE FEMALE PARISHIONER BY PROMISING HER GOD’S BLESSING AND FAVOR

WHAT
Jessica Arbour, a nationally-recognized attorney for survivors of sexual abuse, announces the filing new lawsuit filed in Pulaski County Court alleges that APOSTLE LAWRENCE E. BRAGGS, the Senior Pastor at AWARENESS CENTER INTERNATIONAL MINISTRIES, sexually abused and exploited a female congregant from approximately 2007 until 2012.

The suit alleges that BRAGGS learned sensitive information about Jennifer Richardson, the plaintiff, during the course of spiritual counseling and instruction, which he then used to manipulate the congregant into a sexual relationship. After learning that she was raised by her own minister father to believe that obedience to God was the supreme virtue, Braggs told her that God had shown him that her place was to help him “go to God” through sexual activity. The suit claims that Braggs engaged…

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FLORIDA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, April 28

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 convicted child predator, church volunteer and Eucharistic minister is due to be released from prison early next month. For the safety of children, Fort Myers area Catholic officials must take steps to warn parents and parishioners about him.

[NBC2]

Robert Little was a church volunteer at St. Francis Xavier Church when he abused a 13 year old boy he met through the church. And in 2013, he was convicted for it. On or around May 5, he will be set free.

Venice diocesan officials have acted irresponsibly with Little.

— According to two lawsuits, Catholic officials were told about other allegations of abuse committed by Little, but covered…

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UNITED STATES
Patrick Noaker

Posted on April 29, 2015

By Attorney Patrick Noaker

Most of the attention regarding sexually abusive clergy members has focused on sexual abuse by priests. Most media reports and most research involve abusive priests. The 2004 John Jay College study was limited to diocesan and religious order priests. Consequently, information about sexual abuse by nuns is not widely discussed or understood. This article discusses what is known about the prevalence of nun sexual abuse of children.

Initially, it must be noted that 4.6% of all sex offenders are female.[1] However, some believe that this statistic is artificially low because women are more likely to be diverted from the justice system[2] and because societal and cultural stereotypes about female sexual behavior, including professional biases by police and prosecutors, discourage reporting of sex crimes by females.[3]

When it comes to female religious, there has been very little…

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Statement by Verne Wagner of Duluth, Northeast MN SNAP director ( 218- 340-1277, lwagsmn@yahoo.com )

As part of a settlement in a Twin Cities clergy sex abuse lawsuit, a Minnesota abbey will release the files of a “credibly accused” abusive Catholic cleric who worked in Duluth.

He is Fr. Angelo Zankl. He also spent time at St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville MN.

[Minnesota Public Radio]

Why must Duluth area citizens and Catholics learn more about potentially dangerous Catholic clerics only because victims elsewhere prod church officials elsewhere to disclose information by threatening to go to trial and expose more clerics who commit and conceal heinous crimes?

And what other secrets about proven, admitted or credibly accused clerics are Duluth Catholic officials hiding?

In 2013, Duluth officials put Zankl on a list of “credibly accused” abusers. But that’s the bare minimum….

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ARGENTINA
APF Digital

[ The Criminal Chamber of the STJ rejected the challenge by Justo Ilarraz who is defending the case against him for the alleged crime of aggravated corruption. The reasons for the judgment will be announced on May 18 at 12 30. He is accused of sexually abusing minors.]

La Sala Nº 1, de Procedimientos Constitucionales y Penal, del Superior Tribunal de Justicia de Entre Ríos rechazó la impugnación extraordinaria interpuesta por la defensa del sacerdote católico y ex prefecto del Seminario Menor de Paraná, Justo José Ilarraz, en la causa que se le sigue por el supuesto delito de promoción a la corrupción agravada. Los fundamentos de la sentencia se darán a conocer el 18 de mayo a las 12:30.

El Tribunal de la Sala Nº 1 del STJ, integrada por los Dres. Carlos Chiara Díaz, Claudia Mizawak y Daniel Carubia, informó a las partes que…

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MINNESOTA
Patrick Noaker

PRESS CONFERENCE: 2:00 p.m., Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Where: Minneapolis attorney Patrick Noaker’s office, 333 Washington Ave. N., Suite 300, Minneapolis 55401

First case filed under new law against nuns. Victim to speak with reporters

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ARGENTINA
La Voz

– Tres víctimas deberán volver, por tercera vez, a la Justicia, ahora para certificar la veracidad de cartas supuestamente enviadas al cura Ilarraz, un elemento que presentó la defensa; La querella y el fiscal entienden que constituyen una prueba más de su culpabilidad en los abusos; Ayer pidieron el procesamiento

El cura Justo José Ilarraz decidió responder a su modo frente a las siete denuncias que pesan en su contra por abusos cometidos contra menores en el Seminario Arqudiocesano de Paraná: presentó en la Justicia cartas que supuestamente le habrían mandado tres de las siete víctimas que testimoniaron en Tribunales.

La presentación la hizo su defensor, Juan Ángel Fornerón, y encontró rápida respuesta en la jueza Susana María Paola Firpo, titular del Juzgado de Transición Nº 2 que tramita la causa “Ilarraz Justo José s/Promoción a la corrupción agravada”. La magistrada resolvió citar a las tres…

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ARGENTINA
Analisis Digital

Montrull Ramirez: The letters are evidence that Illarraz manipulated victims.]

El fiscal Juan Francisco Ramírez Montrull cuestionó la presentación de cartas que hizo Justo José Ilarraz ante la Justicia, las cuales intercambiaba con los jóvenes que lo denunciaron por abusos. “Esto es una prueba de la manipulación que el cura ejercía sobre las víctimas, ya que después de lo que les hizo seguía manteniendo contacto no sólo con ellos, sino también con los familiares de éstos”, explicó el letrado. En ese sentido, pidió celeridad y que “no se revictimice a los denunciantes al exponerlos a esta situación, ya que tuvieron que ir tres veces a Tribunales y el sacerdote solamente fue dos”, cuestionó y luego añadió: “No queremos que esta situación se transforme en una investigación a las víctimas”.

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ARGENTINA
Infojus Noticias

[They will continue investigating a Justo Jose Illarraz, priest accused of abusing at least seven boys.
The priest is investigated for sexual abuse at the seminary of Parana, where he was in charge of two hundred children between 10 and 14 years, in a period was 1985-1993]

El sacerdote católico Justo José Ilarraz no consiguió eludir la causa en la que es investigado por al menos siete acusaciones de abusos sexuales cometidos, entre 1985 y 1993, contra chicos de entre 10 y 14 años que estaban a su cuidado en el Seminario de Paraná. El Superior Tribunal de Justicia (STJ) entrerriano determinó que los abusos sexuales por los que está acusado no prescribieron. El 18 de mayo darán a conocer los fundamentos de la sentencia.

La defensa de Ilarraz viene sosteniendo desde el inicio de la causa que esa investigación no puede continuar por el…

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Herald

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

By: Lindsay Kalter

Friends of Star of the Sea’s long-closed Quincy parish are calling on Attorney General Maura Healey to investigate its closing, according to a letter issued yesterday to the archbishop of Boston.

“We have argued that while the cardinal is within his right to suppress parishes, we believe we were a valuable and vibrant parish,” said Maureen Mazrimas, co-chairwoman of Friends of Star of the Sea. “It’s only because of our size that we were suppressed.”

The group asks the AG to look at whether the archdiocese has lived up to its fiduciary responsibility to safeguard property donated by the parishioners.

Mazrimas said at the time it was closed, the church had around 400 worshipers and one priest. She said real estate money from the closure “should have followed the parishioners, but instead it went to the general coffers.”

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AUSTRALIA
New South Wales Police Force

Former priest charged with two sexual assaults, 17 indecent assaults – Granville

Wednesday, 29 April 2015 04:24:07 PM

A former Catholic priest from Sydney’s west has been charged with 19 offences relating to the sexual and indecent assault of children.

Last year (2014), police from the Blue Mountains LAC and the Sex Crimes Squad received information relating to the alleged assault of a young girl by a man at Springwood in 1986.

Detectives made inquiries into the matter and identified seven more children who had allegedly been sexually or indecently assaulted by the man at various locations through NSW between 1975 and 1992.

At the time of the offences, the man was practising as a Catholic priest.

Following their inquiries, detectives yesterday (Tuesday 28 April 2015) arrested a 70-year-old man at a property in Granville.

He was taken to Parramatta Police Station, where…

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

New clerics are asked to disinvite Finn
SNAP: “Or Finn should withdraw from ordinations”
Bishop’s role “hurts victims & Catholics,” group says
At least 2 KC priests are raising objections within hierarchy
Victims to Pope: “Pick a priest, not a bureaucrat” to head diocese permanently

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will

— blast Bishop Robert Finn’s plan to preside at two upcoming church ceremonies and
— disclose that two or three KC priests are objecting to Finn’s role in those events.

For the sake of healing and prevention, the victims will also urge

— eight men who will become deacons next month to disinvite Finn,
— Finn himself to voluntarily step aside from the events, and
— Pope…

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse will hold a public hearing in Ballarat from May 19.

The commission has held public hearings in every Australian capital city.

This year it will hold open hearings in regional Australia for the first time, starting in Ballarat.

It said the city had a deeply disturbing history of institutional sexual abuse.

It will hear the experiences of survivors and the impact of abuse on the town’s families and social fabric.

Ballarat survivor Andrew Collins said it was great news.

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UNITED STATES
The Garden of Roses: Stories of Abuse and Healing

Virginia Jones

These are reflections I wrote down after attending Mass about five ago. I need to add that I have not attended Mass on a regular basis for more than a year. I was thrown out of my parish in 2004, after handing out newspaper articles about clergy abuse in my parish. I tried to remain a faithful Catholic, but after 10 years of rejection by many parishioners and many in leadership, I decided to stop trying. Going to Church was like hitting my head against a wall or beating a dead horse. It doesn’t hurt the horse much.

Well anyway, this last Sunday I was sitting in Mass. My wanders too much. I try to pay attention to the Bible readings. Sometimes I hold onto the word of God more easily through the music.

The Psalm…

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

A former Catholic priest accused of abusing eight children between 1975 and 1992 has been charged with several counts of sexual and indecent assault.

The 70-year-old was on Tuesday arrested at a home in Granville, in Sydney’s west, following a year-long investigation which began with allegations he abused a young girl in 1986. Seven more victims were subsequently identified during the investigation.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

An ex-member of staff at a Worcestershire school has been arrested on suspicion of indecent assault and grievous bodily harm.

The man was detained in Cambridgeshire, in connection with offences dating back to the 1960s and 70s, West Mercia Police said.

He has been bailed until June while investigations continue.

Boy aged 11 to 15 were sent to the now-closed St Gilbert’s in Hartlebury after being convicted of petty crimes.

Police launched an investigation last year into allegations of abuse at the approved Catholic school between the 1940s and 1970s after former pupils were interviewed by BBC Hereford and Worcester.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Catholic Philly

BY ARCHBISHOP CHARLES J. CHAPUT, O.F.M. CAP.

Throughout the weeks of April, our Commonwealth, along with the rest of the country, has been focused on National Child Abuse Prevention and Awareness Month.

Here in Pennsylvania, our people have come through a very difficult decade on this issue. But the abuse problem is much wider than any one state, profession or demographic group. It cuts through every level of society. Child abuse is an ugly crime; abusing children sexually compounds the evil. Every year we see many thousands of cases of child sexual abuse across the country in a full range of institutions, public and private, religious and secular.

In response, Pennsylvania legislators have passed 20 new laws aimed at preventing child abuse and providing better support for survivors. In doing so, they’ve offered a model for the nation. We owe them our gratitude for their good…

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BY SIMON SCOTT
APR 29, 2015

My dear children, whom Jesus, our Saviour, has loved so much, whom he bends down to embrace and bless, come to us, stay with us. We will be the guardian angels of your innocence.

Father Jean-Marie De La Mennais, founder of The Brothers of Christian Instruction (Sermon VII)

———————————————

In late 1964, after his family moved to Japan from Australia, Jacob Bernstein was enrolled at St. Mary’s International School in Tokyo. His father, Robert, a diplomat, had been sent to the Australian Embassy in the city — his first overseas posting.

One lunchtime late in 1965, Jacob says he was searching for a good spot to eat lunch when he passed the school chapel.

Being Jewish, the 11-year-old Grade 6 student didn’t eat the school lunches served in the dining room as most of the boys did. St. Mary’s, a Catholic boys’ school…

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UNITED STATES
Religion News Service

David Gibson | April 28, 2015

NEW YORK (RNS) Sister Mary Ann Walsh, a quiet nun with a keen wit who led a very public life as a journalist and a longtime spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, died on Tuesday (April 28) after a tough battle with cancer.

She was 67 and passed away in a hospice in Albany next to the regional convent of the religious order she entered as a 17-year-old novice in 1964.

Walsh had moved to her native Albany from Washington last September after it was discovered that the cancer that had been in remission since 2010 had returned.

She was able to receive better care there and live out her days with other members of the Sisters of Mercy. She was transferred to the hospice on April 23 as her condition deteriorated.

“Sister Mary Ann,” as…

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OREGON
Oregonian

By Steve Duin | The Oregonian/OregonLive
on April 28, 2015

On an otherwise beautiful afternoon in downtown Portland, the niece took the stand Monday in the felony sex-abuse trial of Mike Sperou, the Happy Valley pastor.

Michal Mitchell remembers growing up so “very happy” in Sperou’s church. In her courtroom testimony, she also recalled depression, extreme anxiety, Prozac, nightmares, suicide attempts, the bipolar diagnosis and – starting when she was in the 6th grade – how often she spent the night in her uncle’s bed.

She usually wore Calvin Klein boxers and a t-shirt, she said. Her pastor and spiritual mentor came to bed in boxer shorts, and frequently hugged the long pillow – that he dubbed “Sally” – that separated them. Asked how long this bizarre sleeping arrangement continued, the 30-year-old Mitchell said, “Until now.”

Mike Sperou is on trial for three counts of unlawful…

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OREGON
Oregonian

By Rick Bella | The Oregonian/OregonLive
on April 28, 2015

Pastor Mike Sperou testified in his own defense Tuesday, adamantly denying he sexually abused young girls growing up in his Happy Valley church during the 1980s and 1990s.

However, Sperou had a harder time during cross-examination, appearing to change his story from the one he told Portland police detectives in 1997.

On Tuesday, Sperou’s trial entered its 11th day, including 10 consecutive days of testimony.

Under questioning by defense attorney Steven J. Sherlag, Sperou told a Multnomah County Circuit Court jury that the core families in the North Clackamas Bible Community are very affectionate with children and that he was sorry if he ever made any of them uncomfortable when they spent the night with him in his bed. He said he contacted the girls’ parents immediately afterward to see if the children were all right.

…

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER , Star Tribune Updated: April 28, 2015

A lawsuit filed by a man who was abused while he was a student at St. John’s Preparatory School yields a landmark settlement.

The monks at St. John’s Abbey worked as student counselors, teachers, parish priests and chaplains, even as they sexually abused minors. What the abbey knew of their sexual improprieties, and when, has never been made public — but that’s about to change.

Under a landmark clergy abuse settlement announced Tuesday, the personnel files of 19 monks known as sex offenders will be made public. The files will expose for the first time how the abbey addressed reports of sex abuse on its Collegeville campus, home to one of the largest Benedictine abbeys in North America.

The lawsuit was settled in much the same way as the first lawsuit against the Archdiocese of…

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PENNSYLVANIA
Daily Times

Editorial

POSTED: 04/28/15

In the last month, convictions of two priests who were found guilty of charges related to child sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia have been upheld by higher courts.

In 2013, the Rev. Charles Engelhardt, a member of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, was convicted of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old altar boy at St. Jerome Roman Catholic Church in northeast Philadelphia from 1998 to 1999 while the priest was in residence there.

Engelhardt denied the allegations and appealed the verdict, but died last November of an apparent heart condition while in the second year of a six-to-12-year sentence at the Coal Township Prison in Northumberland County.

State law required that the priest’s appeal be continued. On March 25, the Pennsylvania Superior Court affirmed Engelhardt’s convictions of endangering the welfare of a child, corruption of a minor and indecent assault.

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