ABUSE TRACKER

A digest of links to media coverage of clergy abuse. For recent coverage listed in this blog, read the full article in the newspaper or other media source by clicking “Read original article.” For earlier coverage, click the title to read the original article.

June 24, 2015

Writer suing John Furlong for defamation sets up legal defence fund

CANADA
Georgia Straight

by Carlito Pablo on June 24th, 2015

The freelance journalist behind an explosive exposé on previously unknown facts about the early life of 2010 Olympics head John Furlong is dealing with huge legal bills.

According to Laura Robinson, she has an outstanding tab as of April 30 this year of about $160,000 in connection with the defamation countersuit she filed against Furlong.

That doesn’t cover expenses in May leading up to and including the trial of her suit against the former Vancouver Olympics CEO, which started on June 15.

“It’s a massively expensive undertaking,” Robinson told the Straight during an interview at B.C. Supreme Court. The Ontario writer is being represented by Bryan Baynham of the Harper Grey law office.

In her testimony on June 16, Robinson said she spent $150,000 to defend against a defamation suit filed by Furlong, one that he eventually dropped. He also discontinued a similar lawsuit against the Georgia Straight.

Robinson authored a story headlined “John Furlong biography omits secret past in Burns Lake”, which was published in the Straight on September 27, 2012. The article reported that he arrived in the northern B.C. town in 1969 as a Christian missionary—not in 1974, as he wrote in his memoir Patriot Hearts—and that he allegedly taunted and physically hurt First Nations students he taught as a gym teacher at the former Immaculata Elementary School.

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.

‘It Was True to Me’: Furlong

CANADA
The Tyee

By Bob Mackin, Today, TheTyee.ca

Former Vancouver 2010 CEO John Furlong told court journalist suing him for defamation ‘was trying to destabilize my relationships with the companies.’

On the annual International Olympic Day, the former chief executive of Vancouver’s 2010 Winter Games revealed in B.C. Supreme Court that his wife left their Olympic Village apartment while he slept in a desperate effort to save his reputation.

Deborah Sharp Furlong, who died after a 2013 car crash in Ireland, roamed Vancouver streets and filled his 4×4 with copies of the Sept. 27, 2012 Georgia Straight. The issue contained reporter Laura Robinson’s exposé that alleged Furlong abused gym class students in 1969 and 1970 at an aboriginal elementary school and that his 2011 Patriot Hearts memoir was riddled with inconsistencies. The woman he married that summer was gone three hours, he said.

“She felt she made a contribution,” Furlong said June 23 under cross-examination by Robinson’s lawyer Bryan Baynham in the high-profile defamation trial against Furlong.

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.

John Furlong’s girlfriend testifies in his defence on eighth day of defamation trial

CANADA
Georgia Straight

by Carlito Pablo on June 24th, 2015

John Furlong’s girlfriend testified in court as part of his defence in a defamation suit brought by freelance journalist Laura Robinson.

Renee Smith-Valade, a former subordinate of Furlong at the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, of which he was CEO, took the witness stand on the eighth day of the trial of the civil case.

As Smith-Valade recalled in B.C. Supreme Court, she has worked with Furlong for many years and they were friends.

Sometime in late 2013 or early 2014, according to her, that changed.

“Our relationship evolved into more of a committed relationship, a partnership,” Smith-Valade said in her direct testimony today (June 24).

In cross-examination, Robinson’s lawyer, Bryan Baynham, asked Smith-Valade about her role in events that are subject to his client’s defamation suit.

These include the creation of Furlong’s October 2, 2012, statement, which accused Robinson of contempt towards the Olympics, the leadership of Vanoc, and male authority figures in sport.

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.

Journalist handed me letter alleging Furlong abused kids, spokeswoman tells court

CANADA
CTV

Geordon Omand, The Canadian Press
Published Wednesday, June 24, 2015

VANCOUVER — A freelance journalist suing former Vancouver Olympics’ CEO John Furlong for defamation penned a hand-written letter claiming he had abused more than 40 First Nations’ students at a northern British Columbia school, the trial has heard.

Former 2010 Games spokeswoman Renee Smith-Valade told B.C. Supreme Court Wednesday she was “stunned” when Laura Robinson handed her a lengthy note during a chance encounter at a Toronto airport in April 2013. The note alleged Furlong’s actions had resulted in at least one suicide.

“She invites me to be an off-the-record interview for her,” said Smith-Valade, reading from the message. “She said, ‘I’m hoping you will consider this option to go off the record as a way of being a member of the human race.”‘

Smith-Valade said she immediately handed the letter over to Furlong’s lawyers after landing in Vancouver.

Robinson is suing Furlong for defamation based on public comments he made after she published a newspaper article in 2012.

The article included affidavits from eight former First Nations’ students and alleged Furlong physically and verbally abused the children while working as a gym teacher at a Roman Catholic school in Burns Lake, B.C., about 45 years ago.

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

VA–Ex-Richmond pastor found guilty of child sex crimes in Texas

VIRGINIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, June 24

Statement by Becky Ianni of Burke VA, DC area director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 703 801 6044, SNAPvirginia@cox.net )

A jury has found a Richmond pastor guilty on seven counts of child sexual abuse.

The former pastor of Richmond Outreach Center, Geronimo Aguilar (a.k.a. Pastor G) was convicted by a Texas jury this afternoon. We applaud this verdict and hope it brings some comfort to Aguilar’s victims.

We also hope he gets the most severe sentence possible.

Last year, even after being indicted, Pastor G was scheduled to speak on Good Friday at Cedar Street Baptist Church in Richmond.

We continue to urge anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered Aguilar’s crimes to contact police. And we urge current and former ROC staff and members to help reach out to others who may have suspicions or knowledge about Aguilar.

According to the Dallas Morning News, “Aguilar settled in Richmond in 1999 and has been a pastor at the Richmond Outreach Center since the early 2000s.” According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, some in Aguilar’s church community have expressed its support for the religious leader. (Among the ROC members who have, as recently as last year, spoken up in support of Aguilar are Shebeney Miles, Kimberly Williamson, and Bobby Thomas.) We hope they will publicly apologize for their hurtful remarks.

Finally, we encourage anyone who may have been harmed by or who has any information about harm done by Aguilar to contact the police. Only when victims and witnesses speak out are children safer.

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.

Charges may let Archdiocese insurers avoid abuse payout

MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Martin Moylan Jun 24, 2015

Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis officials are concerned criminal charges filed against the archdiocese might compromise insurance coverage for clergy sex abuse by bolstering insurers’ arguments for denying claims.

Ramsey County Attorney John Choi has charged the archdiocese with six gross misdemeanors for allegedly failing to protect the victims of a former St. Paul priest. At most, the archdiocese faces fines of $18,000, not much for an organization worth millions.

The archdiocese, however, warned in a recent bankruptcy filing that a criminal conviction may affect its insurance coverage for existing and future sex abuse claims and create ripple effects on the church’s bankruptcy proceedings.

Archdiocese insurers were already challenging their coverage liability months before the criminal charges — and the insurers’ case now becomes stronger, University of Minnesota law professor Christopher Soper said.

“The charges allege that the archdiocese knew about the abuse and didn’t protect the child,” Soper said. “That would likely preclude insurance coverage for the charged conduct because most insurance policies don’t cover intentional acts or criminal acts.”

It’s clear why insurers fight. The financial stakes are high.

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.

Geronimo Aguilar, former mega-church pastor, found guilty of all sex crimes

TEXAS
WTVR

FORT WORTH — Former Richmond pastor Geronimo Aguilar has been found guilty on all counts of sexual assault in his jury trial. The jury just handed down the decision and CBS 6 confirmed the verdict via the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Two sisters said Aguilar had sexual relationships with them beginning when they were 11 and 13 years old. They said it happened in the 90s while he was a pastor at their church there in Houston. The 13-year-old said she was raped by Aguilar.

Aguilar denied the allegations though he confessed to affairs with other women, but the jurors still convicted him. Aguilar’s wife Samantha testified that his affairs were “emotionally draining,” and that he slept with her sister-in-law. “I didn’t want the details. I still don’t want the details,” Samantha Aguilar said to the Star Telegram. “I don’t want to have to keep going through it.”

Aguilar served as pastor and founder of the ROC church here in Richmond, which was recently renamed. He was fired in 2014.

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.

Geronimo Aguilar guilty of sexually assaulting two sisters in Texas

TEXAS
Richmond Times-Dispatch

BY MITCH MITCHELL Fort Worth Star-Telegram

FORT WORTH — A Tarrant County jury on Wednesday convicted the former pastor of the Richmond Outreach Center of sexually assaulting two sisters in Fort Worth and Grapevine almost 20 years ago.
Geronimo Aguilar, 45, who had been free on bond, was immediately taken into custody.

He elected to have state District Judge Louis Sturns set his punishment. Sturns ordered a pre-sentencing report to be filed with him in 80 to 90 days.

The maximum sentence on a charge of aggravated sexual assault of a child is life in prison.
Aguilar’s attorney said he would appeal the conviction.

In closing arguments Wednesday morning, prosecutors said Aguilar, a former minister in Fort Worth and Richmond, pursued a pattern of sexually abusing minors that started 19 years ago.

“He started off by rubbing up against her, by touching her, and then if he sensed that everything wasn’t going to go right, he’d step back and ask, ‘Is everything all right?’ He would just check to make sure that he wouldn’t get arrested,” prosecutor Sheila Wynn 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.

SHAME on Patrick J, Wall, Jeff Anderson & Associates for making John Paul II speak on behalf of victims of his own bestial pedophile priests

UNITED STATES
POPE FRANCIS the CON-Christ.

Paris Arrow

Now that John Paul II is a saint, he is venerated with his first-class relics in every altar in all Catholic churches and he is prayed to in the daily canon of the Eucharistic Mass (and daily rosary). But it is quite an irony that the more he is invoked upon and his writings are quoted as the official version of the word of God — the effects are quite alarming — in that they repel Catholics and jolt churches. More and more, millions of Catholics are abandoning hundreds of churches especially in the USA as it has already happened in Europe. Recently Cardinal Dolan announced the closure and sale of more than 150 churches in New York. This unstoppable Exodus of Catholics is reminiscent of the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt but the Pharaohs here are Saint John Paul II, Benedict XVI-RATzinger and Pope Francis with their army of JP2 Army – John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army, Opus Dei members and Jesuits Masters of Deceits.

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.

MN–Victims applaud ruling on predator priest

MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, June 24

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

We applaud Minnesota’s highest court for re-instating the conviction of a predator priest. Now, it’s up to the new head of the Twin Cities archdiocese to seek out and help others hurt by this criminal.

[Pioneer Press]

[Minnesota Supreme Court]

Fr. Christopher Wenthe preys on vulnerable, devout women who have been raised since birth to respect and revere allegedly celibate priests who posture as Christ’s representatives on earth. That’s why it’s illegal in Minnesota and other states for clerics to sexually exploit congregants. We’re grateful the Minnesota Supreme Court recognizes this fact.

Bishop Bernard Hebda is essentially a “caretaker.” He can’t initiate radical changes in the archdiocese. He can, however, use church resources to reach out to others who saw, suspected or suffered Fr. Wenthe’s crimes. And if he wants us to believe he’s a better shepherd than his predecessor, that’s precisely what he’ll do. Parish bulletins, pulpit announcements, church websites, news releases – these are a few of the many ways Hebda could prod others with information or suspicions about Fr. Wenthe’s crimes to step forward.

We challenge Hebda to do this immediately and to personally go to each place where Fr. Wenthe worked spreading this message.

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

Minnesota Supreme Court reinstates priest’s sexual misconduct conviction

MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

By Rochelle Olson Star Tribune JUNE 24, 2015

A split Minnesota Supreme Court has reinstated the sexual misconduct conviction of a St. Paul Roman Catholic priest, saying prosecutors weren’t required to prove that he knew he was in a spiritual counseling session with his accuser when they had sex.

The court’s action, announced Wednesday, stripped out a new requirement that had been imposed on prosecutors by the state Court of Appeals in the case. The lower court had required them to prove that the cleric had knowledge that the accuser was seeking or received religious or spiritual advice, aid or comfort in the meeting.

Justice G. Barry Anderson wrote the 25-page decision signed by Chief Justice Laurie Gildea and Justices David Lillehaug and David Stras. Justice Alan Page wrote a 15-page dissent, saying prosecutors should be required to show that a defendant clergy member knew or had reason to know the nature of the meeting was for spiritual counseling.

The state Supreme Court’s ruling reinstated the conviction of Christopher Thomas Wenthe. He was convicted of one count of clergy third-degree sexual misconduct occurring between Nov. 1, 2003, and Dec. 31, 2003. He was acquitted of a second count covering the entirety of the one-year sexual relationship.

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.

Former archbishop sues RTE over ‘Mission to Prey’ programme

IRELAND
Irish Independent

PUBLISHED
24/06/2015

A FORMER Roman Catholic Archbishop who resigned over breaking his vow of celibacy has sued RTE for defamation.

Richard Burke, former Archbishop of Benin city in Nigeria, claims he was wrongly depicted as a paedophile in the 2011 Prime Time Investigates programme ‘Mission to Prey’.

Co Tipperary-born Mr Burke, now aged 66, had intimate sexual relations with Dolores Atwood, who featured on the RTE programme, but not when she was under age, his counsel Jack Fitzgerald SC told a High Court judge and jury.

Mr Burke “is not a paedophile”, has never in his life ever molested a child and, at the end of case, you will be convinced that is the truth, counsel said.

As an Archbishop who had sexual relations with Ms Atwood, she had “leaned” on him and he paid her “a large sum of money”, about €176,000, but that was something not mentioned in the programme, counsel said.

The jury would hear of pressure Ms Atwood put on Mr Burke such he became “terrified” of the exposure of the relationship he had with her, he said.

The court would also hear Mr Burke paid large sums to her due to pressure she was putting him under.

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.

STATE OF MINNESOTA IN SUPREME COURT

MINNESOTA
Minnesota Supreme Court

A12-0263

Court of Appeals Anderson, J.
Dissenting, Page, J.
Took no part, Dietzen and Wright, JJ.

State of Minnesota,
Appellant,
vs. Christopher Thomas Wenthe,
Respondent.

ANDERSON, Justice.

Respondent Christopher Thomas Wenthe was convicted of third-degree criminal sexual conduct, Minn. Stat. § 609.344, subd. 1(l)(i) (2014), for sexually penetrating A.F.—a member of the parish where Wenthe served as a priest—at a single meeting at which A.F. sought spiritual counsel. Appellant State of Minnesota seeks review of three issues: (1) whether the district court committed plain error affecting Wenthe’s substantial rights by failing to provide a specific-unanimity jury instruction; (2) whether the State was required to prove that Wenthe had knowledge that A.F. sought or received religious or spiritual advice, aid, or comfort at a meeting that also involved sexual penetration; and (3) whether the district court abused its discretion by denying Wenthe’s motion to admit evidence of A.F.’s sexual history after it admitted the State’s evidence of A.F.’s sexual inexperience. The court of appeals concluded the district court erred with respect to all three issues and that the cumulative effect of the errors necessitates a new trial. We reverse.

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

St. Paul priest’s sex misconduct conviction reinstated

MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

Associated Press
POSTED: 06/24/2015

The Minnesota Supreme Court has reinstated a sexual misconduct conviction for a St. Paul priest accused of having sex with a woman who was seeking his spiritual advice.

Christopher Wenthe was convicted in 2011 of third-degree criminal sexual conduct for incidents dating back to 2003 while he was working at Nativity of Our Lord church in St. Paul. Last year, the Minnesota Court of Appeals reversed his conviction and ordered a new trial, but on Wednesday the Supreme Court disagreed and reinstated his conviction.

State law makes it a felony for clergy members to have sex with people they are spiritually advising.

Wenthe didn’t dispute the relationship, but denied the encounters occurred while he was providing spiritual aid.

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.

Five Eye-Openers From the Trial of Former Richmond Pastor Geronimo Aguilar

TEXAS
Style Weekly

by Kerri O’Brien
June 23, 2015

Former Richmond megachurch pastor Geronimo Aguilar, lauded for founding and leading the Richmond Outreach Center, is on trial this week in Fort Worth, Texas, accused of assaulting two underage girls.

Two years ago in June, Aguilar resigned from the church, which is working to regroup under the name Celebration Church and Outreach Ministry. Aguilar faces charges that he sexually assaulted two sisters who were underage in the 1990s while serving as their youth pastor and living with their family.

Prosecutors presented their case last week, and Aguilar took the stand Monday in his defense. Style asked Kerri O’Brien of 8News, who’s been the only Richmond reporter in the courtroom, to share some of the most striking moments that emerged:

1. Journalist subpoenaed. In a shocking move, an hour into covering jury selection, I’m called out of court and served a subpoena to be a witness for the defense. It appears to be ploy by Geronimo Aguilar’s attorneys to limit media coverage of the trial and keep me out of the courtroom. Lawyers for my station file a motion to quash the subpoena, which is successful, and I return to work.

2. The alleged sex began at 13. The first alleged victim told the jury she clearly recalls the first time she had sex with her Texas church youth pastor, Aguilar. She testifies that it happened Halloween night in 1996, when she was 13. She says the sex continued for a couple of years and that the two had intercourse in multiple locations at the church in Fort Worth — in the church bathroom, the church van and the pastor’s office. She says she never told anyone at the time, and liked the attention from such a powerful and important man.

3. Pastor allegedly played strip poker with a child. The second alleged victim testifies that she recalls lying on a king-sized bed with Aguilar, playing strip poker at the age of 12. She says that once she got down to her underwear, she tried to cover herself with a bed sheet.

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.

Module 6 – Timetable, Evidence Called and Transcripts

NORTHERN IRELAND
Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry

Module 6 – Fr. Brendan Smyth

Timetable, Evidence Called and Transcripts.

Readers may find parts of the evidence transcripts and documents offensive or distressing. Some of them contain graphic descriptions of violent and sexual behaviour, which are not suitable to be viewed by persons under 18 years of age. If you have been affected by reading this material you may wish to seek appropriate support. Lifeline can be contacted on 0808 808 8000.

To view transcripts, evidence or witness statements for a particular session, please click onto the links provided.

Updated on 24-06-2015 @ 10.30

Week Commencing 22nd June 2015

Opening statements

Day 1 transcipt

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OH–Orthodox pastor has just been arrested on a sex charge

OHIO
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, June 24

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

[Vindicator]

An Orthodox pastor has just been arrested on a sex charge involving a teenager. Now, it’s time for his church colleagues and supervisors to take action.

It’s very unlikely this is a “one time” offense. We beg Orthodox officials in Ohio and Pennsylvania to show courage and compassion by actively seeking out anyone else who may have seen, suspected or suffered Rev. Andoni’s crimes.

It’s the moral and civic duty of those with information or suspicions about sex crimes to call police. Church officials gave Rev. Andoni access to innocent kids and vulnerable adults. He may have assaulted some of them. So church officials need to step up, speak out, reach out and try to find and help his victims while also helping law enforcement convict him.

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

Smyth ‘threatened to punch cleric’

NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

Paedophile priest Father Brendan Smyth threatened to punch another cleric when warned to stay away from altar boys, an inquiry has heard.

Fr William Fitzgerald, who served with Smyth at Kilnacrott Abbey in Co Cavan during the late 1980s, described the serial child molester as a scary individual whose notoriety extended across the world.

Giving evidence to the Historical Abuse Inquiry (HIA) the 61-year-old Australian also said he had to bar Smyth from church rehearsals with nine altar boys.

He said: “I told him, ‘in view of the rumours about you and your sexual activities with children, you will not be anywhere near these kids under my watch’.

“He said ‘I’ll knock your head off.’

“I said ‘oh make my day you b*****d. I’ll knock your head clean off’.”

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.

‘Laudato Si” should have lifted the ban on contraception

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Jamie Manson | Jun. 24, 2015 Grace on the Margins

It’s been nearly a week since the much-anticipated release of Pope Francis’ encyclical on the environment. Since then, the document’s many beautiful and challenging elements have been justifiably lauded in both the religious and secular media.

His call to replace fossil fuels is bold, his understanding of overconsumption and scarcity is prophetic, his compassion for the earth and all of its creatures is stunning. I could go on, but so many other commentators and theologians have done the work of parsing and praising the document so well that I will focus on an issue that remains woefully underdeveloped in the encyclical: overpopulation.

I say “woefully” because few people who are as concerned about ecological destruction as Francis is would deny that overpopulation is one of greatest threats to the earth’s survival.

In 2012, the United Nations issued a special report on the looming crisis. By 2040, the global population is expected to swell from 7 billion to 9 billion. The U.N. estimates that by 2030, the world will need at least 50 percent more food, 45 percent more energy and 30 percent more water.

If the global community fails to stabilize population growth, the report said, we risk condemning 3 billion people to extreme deprivation.

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Historical abuse inquiry live…

NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

Historical abuse inquiry live: Police in the Republic knew about the activities of Fr Brendan Smyth, inquiry hears

By Lesley-Anne McKeown
PUBLISHED
24/06/2015

Police in the Republic of Ireland knew about the activities of a notorious paedophile priest in the early 1970s, an inquiry has heard.

Confidential documents from a psychiatric hospital in Dublin have revealed Fr Brendan Smyth, who went on to abuse hundreds of children over four decades, had asked to be admitted after coming to the attention of Gardai in 1973.

Live updates from Belfast Telegraph reporter Deborah McAleese @DeborahMcAleese

Joseph Aiken, counsel for the inquiry said: “For some reason Brendan Smyth has asked the doctor looking after him to write a letter to Finglas Garda station to say that he is going to be taken in for some inpatient treatment.”

Smyth had been conducting a retreat in Finglas in July 1973.

The documents, which were only released to the long-running Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry this morning, also show how Smyth was officially diagnosed as a paedophile in 1974.

The hearing was delayed for several hours today because the medical notes, which the Norbertine order had been trying to obtain for many years, were finally released from St Patrick’s Hospital this morning.

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Gardaí were aware of Smyth’s abuse in early 1970s, inquiry told

NORTHERN IRELAND
RTE News

An institutional abuse inquiry in Northern Ireland has heard that gardaí were aware of the activities of paedophile priest Brendan Smyth as far back as the early 1970s.

Confidential documents revealed at the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry in Banbridge show that Smyth asked to be admitted for treatment at St Patrick’s Psychiatric Hospital in Dublin after he came to the attention of gardaí in 1973.

The documents also reveal that Smyth had been diagnosed as a paedophile in 1973.

Medical notes revealed Smyth was prescribed medication in the hope it would have a dampening effect on his libido.

The notes also showed he was regarded as being a “little bit crazy” and having “a screw loose”.

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Historical Abuse Inquiry: Irish police ‘aware’ of Smyth abuse in 1970s

NORTHERN IRELAND/IRELAND
BBC News

Police in Dublin were aware of the abuse by a notorious paedophile priest as far back as the early 1970s, an inquiry has heard.

Northern Ireland’s Historical Abuse Inquiry has been examining the activities of Fr Brendan Smyth.

New evidence has shown that police were aware of his activities more than 20 years before he was convicted.

The inquiry heard on Monday that Smyth admitted he could have abused hundreds of children.

Smyth was at the centre of one of the first clerical child sex abuse scandals to rock the Catholic church in Ireland.

He was convicted in the 1990s of more than 100 indecent assaults against children over a 40-year period.

He died in prison in 1997 after a heart attack.

Diagnosis

For years, authorities had been trying to get access to documents regarding Smyth held by St Patrick’s Hospital in Dublin.

The hospital had been treating Smyth in 1973.

On Wednesday, the documents were presented to the inquiry, revealing that he was initially being treated for “homosexual problems”.

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.

Gardaí ‘knew of paedophile priest’

NORTHERN IRELAND
UTV

Police in the Republic of Ireland knew about the activities of notorious paedophile priest Brendan Smyth in the early 1970s, an inquiry has heard.

Confidential documents from a Dublin psychiatric hospital have revealed Fr Brendan Smyth, who went on to abuse hundreds of children over four decades, had asked to be admitted after coming to the attention of Gardaí in 1973.

Joseph Aiken, counsel for the inquiry said: “For some reason Brendan Smyth has asked the doctor looking after him to write a letter to Finglas Garda station to say that he is going to be taken in for some inpatient treatment.”

Smyth had been conducting a retreat in Finglas in July 1973.

The documents, which were only just released to the long-running Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry, also show how Smyth was officially diagnosed as a paedophile in 1974.

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.

Brendan Smyth: Gardai knew about activities of paedo priest in the early 1970s, inquiry hears

NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Mirror

BY LESLEY-ANNE MCKEOWN

The documents, which were only released to the long-running Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry this morning, also show how Smyth was officially diagnosed as a paedophile in 1974

Gardai knew about the activities of a notorious paedophile priest in the early 1970s, an inquiry has heard.

Confidential documents from a psychiatric hospital in Dublin have revealed Fr Brendan Smyth, who went on to abuse hundreds of children over four decades, had asked to be admitted after coming to the attention of Gardai in 1973.

Joseph Aiken, counsel for the inquiry said: “For some reason Brendan Smyth has asked the doctor looking after him to write a letter to Finglas Garda station to say that he is going to be taken in for some inpatient treatment.”

Smyth had been conducting a retreat in Finglas in July 1973.

The documents, which were only released to the long-running Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry this morning, also show how Smyth was officially diagnosed as a paedophile in 1974.

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.

Peruvian Archbishop Has Stock in Controversial Mining Company

PERU
Telesur

Peru is one of the places where the Opus Dei organization of the Catholic Church has a strong foothold but its main leader is under scrutiny.

Peruvian Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani’s personal investments are tied with one of the country’s largest construction companies, a local investigation revealed on Monday. Journalist Laura Grados released a second article in her investigation series, published in the local Diario 16, on the leader of Opus Dei and prominent Catholic figure.

For decades, the cardinal has used his position in the Catholic Church to openly criticize social movements and protests against extractive industries in the country. Under his leadership the Archdiocese of Lima became an investor in the stocks of one of the most controversial mining companies, Yanacocha, which sparked the mobilization of large-scale environmental social movement in the country.

“Does (the Church) pay taxes with those for-profit investments? Because on the (fax identification form) the archdiocese appears as a religious association,” Grados said after publishing her investigation, which featured documents highlighting the Church’s for-profit activities.

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Youngstown church employee charged with bathroom groping

OHIO
WKBN

By Jonathan Stroshine
Published: June 23, 2015

BOARDMAN, Ohio (WKBN) – The Mahoning County Sheriff’s office charged a man with grabbing another man’s private area in mid-May at a Boardman restaurant, according to a police report.

Police charged James Callozzo, 73, with sexual imposition, a third-degree misdemeanor, after the incident that they say happened May 15. Nativity of Christ Orthodox Church is listed as Callozzo’s employer in the police report.

According to the testimony of an 18-year-old man in the police report, Callozzo approached him in the bathroom of the Perkins Restaurant on Boardman-Poland Road in Boardman and began asking strange questions. Callozzo then grabbed his privates before he forced Callozzo off of him.

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Youngstown pastor accused of sexual imposition

OHIO
Vindicator

By Jordyn Grzelewski
jgrzelewski@vindy.com

BOARDMAN

The pastor of a Youngstown church is accused of sexual imposition after an incident that purportedly took place in a restaurant restroom.

James Callozzo, 73, appeared in Mahoning County Area Court here Tuesday for arraignment on the misdemeanor charge. He entered a plea of not guilty.

An 18-year-old said Callozzo approached him May 15 in the restroom at Perkins Restaurant & Bakery, 804 Boardman-Poland Road, asked him questions about his genitals and then forcefully touched his genitals, according to a report filed May 30 with the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office.

The teen reported that after following him into the restroom, Callozzo repeatedly asked to see “down there.” He said Callozzo then grabbed his genital area and didn’t let go until the teen forced Callozzo off of him.

In the report, Callozzo’s employer is listed as Nativity of Christ Orthodox Church on Miller Road in Youngstown. Callozzo is pastor of the church, according to the church’s website. There, he is known as the Right Rev. Archim Andoni.

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Pastor accused of fondling man in Boardman restaurant

OHIO
WFMJ

By Mike Gauntner, Online Content Manager

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio –
The pastor of a Youngstown church is accused of fondling a 18-year-old man in the rest room of a Boardman restaurant.

Court officials tell 21 News that seventy-three-year-old James Callozzo of the Nativity of Christ Orthodox Church faces a July 28 pretrial on a charge of sexual imposition.

Callozzo was booked into the jail on Tuesday following his appearance in county court in Boardman.

The alleged victim tells county sheriff’s investigators that a man followed him into the bathroom of the restaurant on May 15th and asked him if he could see his private area.

The Boardman 18-year-old says he forced the man away from him after he reached in front of him an fondled his genitals.

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Geronimo Aguilar admits to affairs but denies sex with underage girls

TEXAS
Richmond Times-Dispatch

By MITCH MITCHELL Fort Worth Star-Telegram

FORT WORTH, Texas — The former pastor of the Richmond Outreach Center megachurch testified Tuesday that he once told a woman with whom he was having an extramarital affair that the Almighty understood the weakness of their flesh.

“God knows we are sinners,” Geronimo Aguilar said he told his assistant, Jammie Chasteen, during their eight-to-10-years-long relationship.

Aguilar also acknowledged numerous other sexual liaisons while he was married.

“When the affairs started, I passed the marriage counseling duties onto another pastor,” Aguilar said.

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Sex abuse trial for founder of Richmond megachurch continues Wednesday

TEXAS
WRIC

TARRANT COUNTY, Texas (WRIC) — The trial for a former Richmond pastor continues in Texas this morning.

Prosecutors are expected to call two more rebuttal witnesses in court on Wednesday.

The defense rested its case Tuesday and Geronimo ‘Pastor G’ Aguilar took the stand.

Aguilar admitted he had multiple affairs with Richmond Outreach Center (ROC) church parishioners, but stressed he never sexually assaulted a child.

We also heard from the former ROC parishioner who claims Aguilar was inappropriate with her when she was just 16-years-old.

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Hawke’s Bay priest John Tovey accused of sexual offending

NEW ZEALAND
Dominion Post

An Anglican priest has been charged with sexually violating a woman in Napier.

John Tovey appeared in Napier District Court on Wednesday to face two charges of sexually violation and one charge of indecent assault. The alleged offending occurred in Napier between April last year and January 2.

Tovey, 64, did not enter a plea and was remanded on bail until next month.

He was previously a vicar in North Canterbury and a priest in charge at Churton Park in Wellington for five years, and then in Wainuiomata for 10 years, before moving to Hawke’s Bay in 2010, where he became associate priest at All Saints parish in Taradale, a position he held until late 2011.

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Laura Robinson made false accusation of racism, says ex-national coach

CANADA
CBC News

By Jason Proctor, CBC News Posted: Jun 23, 2015

The former head coach of Canada’s national men’s basketball team says he was the subject of a “sickening” and erroneous report by Laura Robinson, the same journalist who wrote an article accusing former Olympics CEO John Furlong of abuse.

Ken Shields testified in Furlong’s defence Tuesday at a B.C. Supreme Court trial where Robinson accuses Furlong of defaming her.

Shields said Robinson wrote a piece in the Globe and Mail in 1994 implying he was a racist because of a lack of black players on the national team.

“I was absolutely devastated that anyone would say I had a racial bias over anything in my life,” he testified.

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Priest charged with sex offences

NEW ZEALAND
Hawke’s Bay Today

A former associate priest at Taradale’s Anglican All Saints church has appeared in court on sex charges.

John Hamilton Tovey, 64, appeared before a registrar in Napier District Court today and was remanded on bail without plea until July 15.

He faces one charge of sexual violation and two charges of indecent assault, all three charges relating to the same alleged female victim.

The sexual violation is alleged to have occurred in January this year. One of the indecent assault charges relates to an alleged act on the same day, while the second indecent assault charge allegedly occurred last year.

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Victorian Anglican Church to modernise governance to help any future victims of abuse

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Emma Younger

The Anglican Church in Victoria will soon become a company to allow any future child sexual abuse victims to sue for damages.

All five of the church’s Victorian dioceses voted to incorporate following a recommendation by the 2013 Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child sex abuse.

It ends the legal debate about whether the church can be sued by creating a legal entity accountable for children in its care.

The nation’s top Anglican and Archbishop of Melbourne, Philip Freier, said it was part of an effort to modernise the church’s governance.

“I would hope that people who are survivors of child sexual abuse will take some heart out of the willingness that we have to set up this more accountable and transparent means,” he said.

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Pastor accused of inappropriately touching teen takes deal

NEBRASKA
Press & Dakotan

PAPILLION, Neb. (AP) — A 62-year-old pastor accused of inappropriately touching a 14-year-old girl in an Omaha suburb has been convicted of a lesser charge.

Online court records show Clifton Wells, of Papillion (puh-PIHL’-yuhn), pleaded no contest and was convicted of a misdemeanor on Monday in Sarpy County District Court. Prosecutors lowered the charge from felony sexual assault of a child in exchange for Wells’ plea.

Prosecutors say Wells inappropriately touched the girl several times in July when he gave the girl a ride to pick up a job application. Wells told investigators he’d been counseling the girl about her misbehavior at school, and he denied that any sexual assault occurred.

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Aguilar trial: Rebuttal witness alleges kissing turned to fondling

UNITED STATES
WRIC

By Kerri O’Brien
Published: June 23, 2015

FORT WORTH, Texas (WRIC) — A former ROC parishioner, who says Geronimo Aguilar was inappropriate with her when she was just 16, testified Tuesday in the former pastor’s sex abuse trial in Texas.

After the defense rested its case Tuesday, shocking testimony came from the prosecutions rebuttal witness, the aforementioned former ROC parishioner. She told the jury her pastor, Aguilar, said he had feelings for her and at 16, she thought he was her boyfriend.

“It started slow, he wanted a hug,” she said. “I remember being like physically shaking. I was just scared.”

Now an adult, the young woman testified Aguilar eventually kissed her. And the witness alleges soon the kissing progressed to fondling.

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Live updates: Historical abuse inquiry examines activities of paedophile priest Br

NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

Northern Ireland’s Historical Abuse Inquiry has begun focusing on the activities of paedophile priest Brendan Smyth.

The (HIA) inquiry is examining whether systemic failings allowed Smyth – a member of the Norbertine order – to perpetrate the abuse over more than four decades.

The inquiry is sitting at Banbridge Courthouse in Co Down.

Today the inquiry is due to hear from Fr William Fitzgerald – a member of the Norbertine order.

Smyth died from a heart attack in prison in the Republic of Ireland in August 1997.

His abuse has already been described by a number of witnesses who have previously given evidence to the inquiry.

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June 23, 2015

Former youth minister sentenced for sex crimes

ALABAMA
Baptist News

By Bob Allen

A judge in Cherokee County, Ala., has sentenced a former Southern Baptist youth minister to 10 years in prison for sex crimes, but it won’t add any time to the 15-year sentence he already received in another county.

According to local media, Mack Allen Davis, 74, former youth minister at Lakeside Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., was sentenced June 19 by Judge Jeremy Taylor in Cherokee County to 10 years in prison for attempted sodomy in the second degree and 12 months in jail for each of seven counts of sexual abuse in the second degree.

The sentences will run concurrently with a 15-year sentence handed down May 15 in Jefferson County Court in Birmingham.

Cherokee County authorities arrested Davis in April 2014 after two men came forward claiming he sexually abused them from the late 1970s throughout the 1980s. One of the alleged victims said the abuse began when he was 9.

After Davis was released on bond, he was rearrested in Jefferson County on a grand jury indictment charging him with three counts of second-degree sexual abuse of a minor between the ages of 12 and 16, one count of first-degree sodomy and two counts of first-degree sexual abuse. He pleaded guilty to those crimes in December.

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Geronimo Aguilar admits to multiple affairs, denies underage sex charges

TEXAS
WRIC

FORT WORTH, Texas (WRIC) — The former Richmond mega church pastor, Geronimo Aguilar, is on trial in Texas, accused of sexually assaulting two girls in the ’90s.

On the stand today, a very calm and relaxed Geronimo Aguilar, who often looked directly at the jury when he spoke, testified that he had a lot of extra marital affairs but he never did anything inappropriate with a minor.

Just moments before taking the stand, the former ROC pastor appeared to be deep in thought, prepping for his critical testimony.

Once he was sworn in under oath, Aguilar told the jury there was no truth to the allegations of an inappropriate with relationship with two girls.

“No sir, never ever in my life and never ever even accused of having sex with a child in my until this,” he testified.

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John Furlong denies contradictions in heated cross-examination

CANADA
CTV

Laura Kane, The Canadian Press
Published Tuesday, June 23, 2015

VANCOUVER — Former Vancouver Olympics CEO John Furlong raised his voice and angrily thumped his fist during testimony as he defended himself at a B.C. Supreme Court defamation trial on Tuesday.

During fiery cross-examination, Furlong accused lawyer Bryan Baynham — who is representing freelance journalist Laura Robinson — of sullying his deceased wife’s reputation.

Baynham suggested Furlong lied when he testified that Deborah Furlong filled up their truck with Georgia Straight newspapers on the morning in September 2012 that Robinson’s article came out, with allegations about his past in northern British Columbia.

“How dare you sully her reputation and her life like that? I gave you exactly what she did,” Furlong shot back. “She was totally distraught.”

Robinson is suing Furlong for comments he made after the publication of her article, which included sworn affidavits from eight former students alleging he physically and verbally abused them at a Roman Catholic school about 45 years ago.

Furlong has testified that the allegations are “absolutely not true.”

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Harvard superintendent’s husband facing sex-with-minor charges in Pennsylvania

MASSACHUSETTS
Nashoba Publishing

POSTED: 06/23/20

By Jon Bishop
jbishop@sentinelandenterprise.com

HARVARD — An Eldridge Road man who teaches part time at Mount Wachusett Community College and is the husband of the Harvard Public Schools superintendent is facing charges in Pennsylvania that he had sex with a minor in 2006 while he was teaching at a Catholic high school.

James Scott Dwight III, 47, of 3 Eldridge Road was arrested Feb. 26 at his home as a fugitive from justice by Lancaster, Pennsylvania, City Detective Aaron Harnish, assisted by the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force Service and Massachusetts State Police.

Dwight is charged with two counts of corruption of minors. According to LancasterOnline, a local news site, after his arraignment March 2, he was released on $20,000 unsecured bail.

As reported by WPMT-TV Fox43 in Pennsylvania, Dwight was arrested after an investigation that stemmed from a February 2014 report from a then-25-year-old woman that Dwight allegedly had sexual contact with her at his home in June 2006, when she was 17 and a student at Lancaster Catholic High School. Dwight taught English at the school from 2005-2007, according to a report from Lancasteronline.com.

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Ex-Olympics CEO John Furlong faces heated cross-examination

CANADA
The Globe and Mail

The Canadian Press

Former Vancouver Olympics CEO John Furlong’s temper boiled over while he was under cross-examination at the civil court trial where a journalist accuses him of defamation

Furlong accused Bryan Baynham — the lawyer for journalist Laura Robinson — of sullying his deceased wife’s reputation.

Robinson is suing Furlong for public comments he made after she wrote a 2012 article that included allegations he physically abused First Nations students at a Roman Catholic School in northern B.C. some 45 years ago.

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John Furlong claims he didn’t hide Christian missionary past under cross-examination at defamation trial

CANADA
Georgia Straight

by Carlito Pablo on June 23rd, 2015

John Furlong has admitted in the witness stand that he arrived in Canada as a landed immigrant from Ireland in 1975—not in 1974 as he wrote in his autobiography and told in stories about his life.

The former Vancouver Olympics CEO made the admission upon the resumption today (June 23) of his cross-examination by the lawyer of a freelance journalist who is suing him for defamation.

Bryan Baynham, who is representing plaintiff Laura Robinson, began by asking about the name of the “famous customs agent” in Edmonton who supposedly stamped Furlong’s passport, welcoming him to Canada with a call to make the country “better”.

Furlong couldn’t remember who the officer was. Besides, according to him, there was a point he was trying to make with the story that he told in his 2011 book Patriot Hearts.

“The point about that story isn’t about his name. It’s about the message,” he said in B.C. Supreme Court.

That message was about the responsibility of all Canadians to their country, and Baynham said that he knew about that, but there was the question of when Furlong actually arrived.

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Abbot accused of lying about Fr Brendan Smyth

IRELAND
Irish Times

Gerry Moriarty

The former abbot of the Kilnacrott Norbertine Abbey in Co Cavan, Kevin Smith, has been accused of telling lies about his knowledge of when Fr Brendan Smyth first began sexually abusing children.

At the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry in Banbridge, Co Down yesterday it was alleged Abbot Smith lied to the RUC in 1997 when he was interviewed about Smyth’s activities.

He told police it wasn’t until 1989 that he first became aware that Smyth abused children.

Junior counsel for the inquiry Joseph Aiken, however, said Abbot Smith in 1994 told UTV journalist Chris Moore, who first exposed Smyth’s activities, that the paedophile priest received medical treatment for his sexual proclivities in 1968 and 1973 and that he received “institutionalised” treatment in 1974.

Mr Smith also told Moore that Smyth’s behaviour had “perplexed and troubled our community over many years”.

“We always hoped that a combination of treatment, Fr Smyth’s intelligence, and the grace of God would enable Fr Smyth to overcome his disorder,” he said. “We did not adequately understand the compulsive nature of his behaviour or the serious damage it could cause.”

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MARIJUANA

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

A notorious predator who pimped some of his victims to his fellow clerics, including one who later lived in University City, passed away in Iowa. Fr. James Janssen was accused of molesting dozens of kids and enabling Fr. William Wiebler to assault some of them. Wiebler came to a Catholic facility here, got an apartment 750 feet from Delmar Harvard elementary school and about 1,000 feet from Julia Goldstein preschool. “Neighbors often saw that fat, white-bearded priest – who resembled Santa Claus – on his third-floor back porch, dressed in a flimsy robe (watching) children walking home from school,” according to one news account. . .Meanwhile, a Memphis newspaper has turned out a pleasing profile of Bishop Richard Stika, a former St. Louis priest who now leads the Knoxville diocese. . .

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Brendan Smyth: Victim of sicko priest tortured by not knowing where he stashed naked pictures he took of her

NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Mirror

BY RHIAN LUBIN

Speaking for the first time under her real name, Loreto said the former priest “will never be dead to me”

A tormented victim of evil Brendan Smyth told how she is tortured by not knowing where the sicko stashed naked pictures he took of her.

Speaking for the first time under her real name, Loreto said the former priest “will never be dead to me”.

Recalling the sick abuse at the hands of Smyth, she detailed how he “raped, abused and humiliated” while at boarding school.

She told the Pat Kenny Show: “I don’t know where those photographs are that Smyth took of my body.

“Where are they? Who has seen them? Are they published? All those things will always stay, that continues the abuse. There are no answers.”

Loreto told how she felt her life had ended and it became a “case of existing” and managing from day-to-day.

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Ex-youth pastor sentenced for misconduct with teenage girl

INDIANA
Newsbug

ANDERSON, Ind. (AP) — A former youth pastor has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for sexual misconduct with a teenage girl during a central Indiana church conference.

A Madison County judge ordered the maximum sentence Monday for 34-year-old Derrick Hampsch, who pleaded guilty last month to a felony charge of sexual misconduct with a minor.

The Herald Bulletin reports (http://bit.ly/1GD5ZQi ) that Hampsch was the youth pastor at First Baptist Church in Vincennes when he and the then-14-year-old girl attended the 2010 conference in Anderson. Authorities say Hampsch fondled the girl and had her fondle him while they and others stayed overnight at an Anderson church.

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MIAMI BEACH RABBI ACCUSED OF MOLESTATION MAY HAVE TRIED TO BUY OFF VICTIM’S MOTHER

FLORIDA
New Times

BY KYLE MUNZENRIEDER
TUESDAY, JUNE 23, 2015

Steve Karro, a substitute rabbi at Shaare Ezra Sephardic Congregation and a well-known local artist with his own gallery in Miami Beach, was arrested last month on charges that he molested an 11-year-old girl. Now the child’s family claims Karro handed the alleged victim’s mother $500 in cash just days before his arrest in order to buy her silence.

Karro was a friend of the family and had known the girl most of her life. The incident happened April 16 at Karro’s Arthur Godfrey Road gallery, where he allegedly grabbed the girl’s buttocks, sat her on his lap, and kissed her neck. The girl ran off but claims Karro gave her a bag of candy and told her not to tell her mother. Karro says he was simply trying to “cleanse” the girl of “negative energy.”

The family has since retained the services of lawyer Jeff Herman, well known for defending victims of sexual abuse cases, including those in the Catholic Church, and now claims Karro tried to buy the family’s silence.

A video shows Karro showing up at the mother’s job at a restaurant and handing her an envelope. The mother claims it contained $500 cash and turned it over to Miami Beach Police. Karro told Local 10 that the money was for something else but refused to elaborate, citing advice from his legal counsel.

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Aguilar’s former ROC assistant testifies about hush money, sexual affair

TEXAS
WRIC

By Kerri O’Brien
Published: June 18, 2015

TARRANT COUNTY, Texas (WRIC) — In a surprise move, the state of Texas rests it’s case against the founder of the ROC Church. Geronimo Aguilar is accused of sexually assaulting two girls in Texas in the late 1990s.

The prosecution’s witness list was long, it originally contained the names of more than 50 people prosecutors planned to call to the stand. Thursday, they were not even half way through the witness list when the state announced it was resting its case.

The decision came after a day of scathing testimony.

Jammie Chasteen, who was Geronimo Aguilar’s’ personal assistant at the ROC Church in Richmond, told the jury, “Yes, I have wired transfers, money orders.”

She testified that on several occasions, the former ROC pastor had her wire what seemed like hush money to one of the alleged victim’s mom.

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Texas mother knew minister was having sex with underage daughters, witnesses say

TEXAS
San Antonio Express-News

BY JOSHUA FECHTER : JUNE 19, 2015

A Fort Worth mother knew that a minister was sexually abusing her two daughters, ages 11 and 13 at the time, during the 1990s, witnesses testified this week.

Geronimo Aguilar, 45, allegedly repeatedly sexually assaulted the two girls when Aguilar and his wife lived with the sisters and their parents in Fort Worth and Grapevine, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported. He is also accused of playing strip poker with the young girls.

A Tarrant County grand jury indicted Aguilar in 2014 on two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child, three counts of sexual assault of a child under 17 and three counts of indecency with a child.

Carl Everett White, a teenage boyfriend of the older daughter who now lives in San Antonio, testified Wednesday that their mother once tried to stop him from entering their home, according to the Star-Telegram.

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Samantha Aguilar: ‘He was a horrible husband’ but ‘amazing father’

TEXAS
WRIC

By Kerri O’Brien
Published: June 22, 2015

FORT WORTH, TEXAS, (WRIC) — Geronimo Aguilar’s wife took the stand Monday calling him a horrible husband but not a child molester.

The trial for the former Richmond ROC pastor accused of sexually assaulting two girls in Texas continued in Fort Worth.

For the first time since the allegations of abuse and the scandal at the former ROC Church surfaced, the court is hearing from Geronimo Aguilar’s wife. Samantha Aguilar doesn’t deny the affairs he had, but says she never saw anything inappropriate between her husband and the alleged victims.

“Yeah, he was a horrible husband, but they deserve a father, yeah that’s what we are doing,” said Samantha Aguilar.

An emotional Samantha Aguilar said as the ROC Church grew in popularity, she and her husband began to drift apart and her husband’s affairs began.

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Minister’s wife testifies she knew about her husband’s affairs

TEXAS
Star-Telegram

BY MITCH MITCHELL
mitchmitchell@star-telegram.com

Remembering the names of the women her husband had affairs with was emotionally draining for Samantha Aguilar as she testified Monday in her husband’s trial.

She said her husband, Geronimo Aguilar, confirmed to her that he had sex with these women at least once: her sister-in-law, his personal assistant, a family friend who baby-sat their three daughters, a board member’s wife and another family friend who was a member of the Richmond Outreach Center (ROC), the church that the couple built together in Virginia.

She said she heard many of the names first from reporters after her husband was indicted on two counts of sexually assaulting children.

Samantha Aguilar testified that she never asked her husband for further details about his relationships.

“I didn’t want the details. I still don’t want the details,” Samantha Aguilar said. “I don’t want to have to keep going through it.”

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Pastor G testifies Tuesday in sex abuse trial

TEXAS
WRIC

TARRANT COUNTY, Texas (WRIC) — The former Richmond Outreach Center (ROC) pastor took the stand on his behalf Tuesday morning.

Geronimo ‘Pastor G’ Aguilar began his testimony by describing his troubled childhood and how his mother was murdered by his step dad. Pastor G said he’d never been in trouble with the law before he was accused of sexually assaulting two girls when he was their youth pastor back in the late ’90s.

When asked about the sex abuse allegations, Pastor G denied ever doing anything inappropriate with the oldest of the alleged victims. Aguilar appeared very calm while on the stand, even looking directly at the jury as he spoke.

Pastor G said his wife wasn’t away on trips that alleged victims referred to when the alleged abuse happened. He said that the Child Protective Services investigation in Texas in the 1990s talked to the alleged victims family as well as himself, but law enforcement never got involved as CPS didn’t find any truth to the allegations.

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Smyth angrily denied damaging Church in letter from jail

NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Disgraced priest Fr Brendan Smyth penned an angry letter from jail denying he had damaged the Catholic Church, an inquiry has heard.

Just months after he was jailed for sexually assaulting more than 100 children, the prolific paedophile wrote to former Catholic Primate Cahal Daly claiming he had pleaded guilty to “false” allegations to spare the reputation of the church.

In a letter sent from Magilligan Prison, Co Derry, in December 1994, Smyth wrote: “I wish to express my anger and disbelief that a person with your lofty intellectual qualifications could possibly have made such statements.

“Whatever my sins and failings, and there are many of them, it is not they but the media reporting of them which was created an atmosphere of mixed shame and embarrassment…

“I pleaded guilty to wildly exaggerated and in some cases false allegations to try to limit the media coverage. In that I admit I failed dismally.”

The letter was shown to Northern Ireland’s long running Historical Abuse Inquiry (HIA) which is examining whether systemic failings allowed Smyth – a member of the Norbertine order – to perpetrate the abuse over more than four decades between the 1960s and 1990s.

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Paedophile priest Brendan Smyth blamed media for adding to ‘distress’ of his victims

NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Independent

Lesley-Anne McKeown
PUBLISHED
23/06/2015

Self confessed paedophile priest Fr Brendan Smyth blamed the media for adding to the “distress” of his victims, an inquiry has heard.

In a letter written in 1995 after his conviction for sexually assaulting more than 40 children in Northern Ireland, the west Belfast-born priest said he hoped his victims could also find solace and lashed out at the media for adding to their distress.

He also claimed he had found “peace with God”.

Smyth, who died in jail in 1997, wrote: “I have welcomed the prison sentences imposed by the courts as a fitting means of paying my debt to society.

“I would like to take this opportunity to express my deep sorrow to anyone who has in any way suffered as a result of my actions and also to those relatives, friends and members of my religious community who suffered because of the media treatment of these matters for a long time now

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Abuse priest ‘found peace with God’

NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

23 JUNE 2015

Self confessed paedophile priest Fr Brendan Smyth found peace with God, an inquiry has been told.

In a letter written in 1995 after his conviction for sexually assaulting more than 40 children in Northern Ireland, the west Belfast-born priest said he hoped his victims could also find solace and lashed out at the media for adding to their distress.

Smyth, who died in jail in 1997, wrote: “I have welcomed the prison sentences imposed by the courts as a fitting means of paying my debt to society.

“I would like to take this opportunity to express my deep sorrow to anyone who has in any way suffered as a result of my actions and also to those relatives, friends and members of my religious community who suffered because of the media treatment of these matters for a long time now.

“I have been at peace with my God and I trust they too will find a similar peace.”

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Bankruptcy has cost archdiocese about $2 million so far

MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Martin Moylan Jun 23, 2015

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has incurred about $2 million in legal costs so far in its bankruptcy reorganization.

The archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in January. Soon after the filing, the judge assigned to the case ordered key parties into mediation, hoping that would expedite a resolution and keep legal costs down.

But the latest operating report filed by the archdiocese indicates it has racked up $1.4 million in legal fees, mostly with the Briggs and Morgan law firm.

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IL–Notorious predator passes; He worked in Joliet

ILLINOIS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, June 23

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

One of the nation’s most prolific predator priests – who worked in Joliet – has passed away and a victims’ group wants Catholic officials to “aggressively seek out and help” others who the priest assaulted.

[Quad-City Times]

Fr. James M. Janssen reportedly abused at least three dozen boys, often along with other pedophile priests (Fr. Francis Bass, Fr. Theodore Anthony Geerts and Fr. James W. Murphy). He is also accused of pimping his victims to other clerics (Bass, Murphy and Fr. William Wiebler).

For two years (1956-1958), Janssen worked at – and abused at least one child at – St. Isaac Jogues parish in Hinsdale. The victim’s mother discovered obscene letters between the Janssen and the boy. She gave them to the parish priest, the priest wrote to the bishop, and Janssen was suspended from his position at Holbrook IL where he worked with “the boy scouts and the teenagers”

Janssen allegedly used sacrilege and petty crime to groom his victims, and sometimes took them out of state to abuse them. Janssen’s “stable of boys” ranged in ages from five to 18. He continued to abuse at least one into his twenties, and he kept in touch with several into their adulthood, according to multiple sources (see BishopAccountability.org)

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How Many?

UNITED STATES
Jeff Anderson & Associates

6/22/2015

Patrick J. Wall

One of the most common questions we are asked in child protection is how many minors does a child molester sexually abuse in their lifetime?

In the case of Norbertine Father Reverend Brendan Smyth O. Praem, we have a glimpse into the mind, methods and devastating results from a Priest who was allowed by the Roman Catholic Hierarchy to decimate children in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the United States.

“Mr. Aiken said that Smyth was convicted of 117 cases of indecent assault against 41 children in the North and South. There were 74 convictions against 20 children in the Republic and 43 convictions against 21 children in Northern Ireland. The Northern Ireland convictions were between 1964 and 1984 and the Southern convictions between 1967 and 1993.”

[Irish Times]

If we extrapolate just the number of Irish survivors alone, 41, and apply that to the number of priest perpetrators from the Suffolk County Grand Jury Report on the Diocese of Rockville Centre New York, 58, we can deduce the number of minors sexually abused by Bishops, Priests and Deacons on Long Island was at least 2,378.

[National Catholic Reporter]

In her 2003 book, Predators, Anna C. Salter, Ph.D., writes: “There are a lot of sexual offenses out there, and the people who commit them don’t get caught very often. When an offender is caught and has a thorough evaluation with a polygraph backup, he will reveal dozens, sometimes hundreds, of offenses for which he was never apprehended. In an unpublished study by psychologist Dr. Pamela Van Wyk, twenty-three offenders in her incarcerated treatment program entered the program admitting an average of three victims each. Faced with a polygraph and the necessity of passing it to stay in the treatment program, they revealed an average of 175 victims each.”

The thousands of survivors and their families who daily endure the repercussions of child sexual abuse by their Pastors, what Saint Pope John Paul the Great called a great scare upon the soul, need an avenue of redress. The Grand Jury Report points out the obvious, that the statute of limitations and the doctrine of ex post facto defend those responsible for these heinous crimes against our children.

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Tullian’s tragedy: How the megachurch business model is failing everyone, including pastors

UNITED STATES
Christian Today

David Robertson 23 June 2015

I assumed that he or someone close to him had been diagnosed with a terminal illness and so I promptly tweeted a reply that sympathised and sought prayer for him. And then I read that Billy Graham’s grandson, Tullian Tchividjian, had resigned as the pastor of a Florida megachurch after admitting an adulterous relationship.

It was distressing news to wake up to. Tullian is the latest high-profile pastor in the US to fall from grace and find himself on the front pages for all the wrong reasons.

Tullian issued a statement saying that his wife had had an affair and that while he had taken a sabbatical to heal his marriage he had “sought comfort in a friend” and developed “an inappropriate relationship” himself. Kim, his wife, issued her own statement saying that her husband’s reflected his own views, not hers, and asked for respect for their family’s privacy.

It is a desperately sad situation, in many ways – not just for the family and all that is involved in the breakup of a marriage with three children, but also the collateral damage to the church and to the reputation of the gospel. “Oh no, not another one” is a common despairing reaction.

Tullian is the fourth megachurch pastor to resign in recent years in Florida alone, for what is usually called ‘an inappropriate relationship’ but biblically is just called ‘adultery’. Of course, many in the secular media and wider public love this kind of scandal – it allows them to luxuriate in sexual titillation and at the same time rejoice in charges of Christian hypocrisy.

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7 Reasons Why High-Profile Leaders Like Tullian Tchividjian Fail

UNITED STATES
Charisma News

SHANE IDLEMAN

Within weeks, two of my heroes have fallen from grace, and some of my friends in pastoral ministry have taken detours in their destiny as well. Moral failings among leaders are becoming an epidemic. No one is beyond the reach of Satan’s grasp. Although I’m disappointed, my faith is not shaken because only Christ should be placed on a pedestal.

Why do they fall? They fall for the same reason that all Christians fall. Each of us are drawn away by our own evil desires and enticed. When these desires are acted upon, they lead to sin (cf. James 1:14-15). Sin has a life cycle—it either grows or withers, depending on whether we feed or starve it. John Owen, the prolific Puritan author wrote, “Be killing sin, or sin will be killing you.”

Consider the following ways that sin gains entrance:

1. “It will never happen to me.” 1 Corinthians 10:12 reminds us that if we think that we are standing firm, we should be careful that we don’t fall. “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall” (Prov. 16:18). Pride says, “I’ve never committed adultery. It will never happen to me.” Humility says, “By the grace of God, I haven’t, but I can.” Strength is found in admitting our weaknesses: “For when I am weak I am strong” (2 Cor. 12:10). Pride opens the door to compromise and unwise decisions; it ignores conviction. Conviction is not always a hammer to the head, it’s a still, small voice to the heart. Sadly, many confuse God’s patience with His approval. C.H. Spurgeon rightly noted, “We are never, never so much in danger of being proud as when we think we are humble.”

2. I’m “too busy.” We are all susceptible to putting God second and ministry first. If we’re too busy to cultivate a prayer life that places God first—we’re too busy. Men would live better if they prayed better. We’re often too busy because we’re doing too much. “When faith ceases to pray, it ceases to live” (E.M. Bounds). It’s hard to fall when you’re always on your knees. Moral failing cannot gain a stronghold in a broken, praying heart that spends time in the Word and obedience to it (cf. James 1:22). Nine times out of 10, when a leader falls, he or she has no meaningful prayer or devotional life.

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Smart and cunning, Brendan Smyth used his collar to groom the innocent

NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

BY DEBORAH MCALEESE – 23 JUNE 2015

For 40 years Brendan Smyth used his position in the Catholic Church to target, groom and sexually abuse innocent young children.

The Church was well aware of his crimes, but rather than address them he was simply moved from diocese to diocese.

A “very intelligent” man, he “used his intelligence and cunning to intimidate and oppose those who confronted him,” revealed Fr William Fitzgerald, of the Norbertine Order, of which Smyth was a member.

“He was able to silence and ridicule those who would confront him,” Fr Fitzgerald told the historical abuse inquiry yesterday.

Smyth was born in west Belfast on June 8, 1927. According to Smyth’s medical notes he said that his family were poor, but were secretive about their lack of wealth. His father worked as an auctioneer.

Smyth had asthma as a child and was not as athletic as his brother at school.

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Victim of paedophile Brendan Smyth…

NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Independent

Victim of paedophile Brendan Smyth: ‘I still don’t know where the pictures are that he took of my body’

Louise Kelly

One of the victims who was “violated, raped, abused and humiliated” by Irish priest Brendan Smyth has said that the paedophile “will never be dead to her”.

“I have flashbacks, I get triggers and sometime there’s no warning,” Loreto, who was previously known as Samantha, spoke under her real name on the Pat Kenny show this morning.

“He’ll never be dead, when you’ve s**t like this going on on television, all these inquires going on and everything. It’s more real, it’s always going to be there.

“I still don’t know where those pictures are that Brendan Smyth took of my body. Who has seen them? Have they been published?

The comments, taken in a pre-recorded interview earlier this morning, come following a number of revelations emerging from the Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry.

Smyth was convicted of 117 indecent assaults against 41 children across Ireland. He died in prison in 1997 after a heart attack.

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Brendan Smyth denied his abuse had damaged Catholic Church

NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Times

Gerry Moriarty
Banbridge Co Down

Paedophile priest Brendan Smyth wrote to the late Cardinal Cahal Daly from prison to deny that his sexual abuse of boys and girls had caused serious damage to the Catholic Church, the Historical Institutional Abuse inquiry heard on Tuesday.

Smyth, it emerged at the inquiry, was angered that Cardinal Daly had publicly stated that the allegations against Smyth had “done serious damage to the church”.

Smyth, who was convicted in 1994 for sexual abuse of children in Northern Ireland, wrote from Magilligan Prison in Co Derry to Cardinal Daly protesting at his remarks.

Brendan Smyth: told doctor after his arrest he may have abused 50-100 children, and that ‘number could even be double or perhaps even more’. Photograph: PacemakerBrendan Smyth may have sexually abused more than 200 children, inquiry told

He said if the cardinal had been misquoted then he could dump the letter but if he had been properly quoted then he had to “express my anger and disbelief that a person with your lofty intellectual qualifications could possibly have made such a statement”.

“Whatever my sins and failing, and they are many, it is not they but the media reporting of them which has created an atmosphere of mixed shame and embarrassment for the superficial Catholic,” he added in the letter.

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Paedophile priest denied ‘damage’

NORTHERN IRELAND
Farming Life

Disgraced priest Fr Brendan Smyth penned an angry letter from jail denying he had damaged the Catholic Church, an inquiry has heard.

Just months after he was jailed for sexually assaulting more than 100 children, the prolific paedophile wrote to former Catholic Primate Cahal Daly claiming he had pleaded guilty to “false” allegations to spare the reputation of the church.

In a letter sent from Magilligan Prison, Co Londonderry, in December 1994, Smyth wrote: “I wish to express my anger and disbelief that a person with your lofty intellectual qualifications could possibly have made such statements.

“Whatever my sins and failings, and there are many of them, it is not they but the media reporting of them which was created an atmosphere of mixed shame and embarrassment…

“I pleaded guilty to wildly exaggerated and in some cases false allegations to try to limit the media coverage. In that I admit I failed dismally.”

The letter was shown to Northern Ireland’s long running Historical Abuse Inquiry (HIA) which is examining whether systemic failings allowed Smyth – a member of the Norbertine order – to perpetrate the abuse over more than four decades between the 1960s and 1990s.

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Brendan Smyth victim: ‘Every time it happened another part of me died’

NORTHERN IRELAND
Yahoo! News

The Journal

By Catherine Healy

One of the VICTIMS of paedophile Brendan Smyth has said that her life was “turned upside down” by the abuse she suffered.

“He raped [me], he abused [me], he took pictures [of me], he humiliated [me], he took my life – and every time it happened another part of me died,” Loreto told Pat Kenny in an interview broadcast on Newstalk this morning.

“To this day I don’t know where those photographs are that Brendan Smyth took of my body,” she said, speaking under her real name for the first time.

Where are they? Who has seen them? Are they published? That continues the abuse.
School

Loreto said the priest abused her on the grounds of her boarding school over the course of five years.

But she was initially too afraid to tell anyone because he had told her that she “was going to go hell, and that he was the one that was going to cure me, to save me from the fires of hell”.

My body was on fire, the parts that he had raped. I thought what would it be like if the rest of me were in the flames, because it really felt like I was on fire. He had me sucked in.

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HIA inquiry hears angry jail letter from paedophile priest Fr Brendan Smyth

NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

By Kevin Sharkey
BBC News NI

The paedophile priest Fr Brendan Smyth wrote an angry letter from prison, criticising his Church and the media over their response to his conviction.

The letter emerged at the Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry.

Smyth castigated a former leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland – the then Bishop Cathal Daly – for stating that his case had damaged the Church.

The serial child abuser’s letter also blamed the media for creating an atmosphere of “shame” over his crimes.

The HIA inquiry, which is being held in Banbridge courthouse, County Down, is examining child abuse allegations in church, state and voluntary children’s residential institutions dating back to 1922, but has set aside a dedicated module on the case of the late Brendan Smyth.

Writing from his cell in Magilligan prison in 1994, Smyth said that he wanted to express his “anger and disbelief” that Cathal Daly had said his case had “done severe damage” to the Catholic Church.

Describing the then Bishop Daly as “lofty and intellectual”, the convicted child abuser went on to blame the media.

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Synod document identifies ‘penitential road’ for divorced and remarried Catholics

VATICAN CITY
The Tablet (UK)

23 June 2015 13:23 by Christopher Lamb

Today the Vatican published the October’s gathering working document – Instrumentum Laboris – that takes into account submissions from bishops’ conferences and others from around the world.

The working text puts forward a “penitential road” for divorced and remarried couples – under the authority of the bishop or accompanied by a priest – as was suggested last year by Cardinal Vincent Nichols. The text does not spell out the destination of the “pathway” and would require chastity. In this context, the implication is that it may well lead to the reception of the sacraments.

Divorced and remarried couples should be “integrated” into the Church, the document points out.
Speaking at a press conference to launch the document, Archbishop Bruno Forte, special secretary to the synod, said the gathering’s role is not to give a “yes or no” answer to the question of whether divorced and remarried Catholics should be allowed to receive Communion, but to reflect on it as bishops.

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Presentation of the Instrumentum Laboris of the Synod: “The vocation and the mission of the family in the Church and contemporary world”

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Vatican City, 23 June 2015 (VIS) – This morning in the Holy See Press Office a press conference was held to present the Instrumentum Laboris of the 14th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the theme, “The vocation and mission of the family in the Church and contemporary world” (4-25 October 2015). The speakers were: Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, general secretary of the Synod of Bishops; Cardinal Peter Erdo, archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, Hungary, general rapporteur of the 14th General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops; and Archbishop Bruno Forte of Chieti-Vasto, Italy, special secretary of the 14th General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops.

The Instrumentum Laboris, explained Cardinal Baldisseri, is divided into three parts following the structure of the Relatio Synodi, demonstrating the close link between the Third Extraordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in October 2014, dedicated to “The pastoral challenges of the family in the context of evangelisation”, and the upcoming Ordinary General Assembly. The first part, entitled “Listening to the challenges of the family”, relates most directly to last year’s Synod, while the second, “Discernment of the family vocation”, and third, “The mission of the family today”, introduce the theme of the next one.

The cardinal highlighted certain novelties in the first part, which refer principally to the anthropological-cultural, socio-economic and ecological contexts, “now happily enlightened by the new Encyclical letter Laudato si’”. The challenges, he explained, are “poverty and social exclusion, old age, widowhood, bereavement in the family, disability, migration, the role of women, emotional life and education in sexuality, and bioethics”.

In the second part, “Discernment of the family vocation”, the Relatio Synodi is enriched with an extension of the themes regarding natural marriage and sacramental fullness, indissolubility as a gift and a duty, family life, union and fruitfulness, the missionary dimension, faith, prayer, catechesis, the intimate bond between Church and family, the young and fear of marriage, and mercy.

The third part, devoted to “The mission of the family today”, begins with a broad-ranging reflection on the family and evangelisation, and explores in depth a number of other issues such as the family as subject of pastoral ministry, nuptial liturgy, renewed language and missionary openness.

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New family synod document a mixture of welcome, criticism of modern life

VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Jun. 23, 2015

VATICAN CITY
The Vatican document outlining the initial working positions for October’s highly anticipated global meeting of bishops on family life issues offers little to no clear indication of how world prelates have responded to Pope Francis’ call to openly discuss difficult issues facing families, such as divorce and remarriage.

The document, which many anticipate as a possible barometer for how the bishops’ discussions at the fall event might evolve, instead mainly focuses on restating many positions adopted at the meeting held last year with an occasional emphasis on showing mercy to those facing burdensome situations.

The document also appears to reiterate some of the culture-war language that has sometimes marked the church’s language in recent decades and reaffirms the church’s moral teaching in several areas, including the prohibition on the use of birth control.

It also does not seem to offer substantially new options for divorced and remarried people seeking the ability to take Communion in the church.

Released by the Vatican on Monday only in Italian, the document is the preparatory working instrument for October’s Synod of Bishops, the second of two back-to-back global bishops’ meetings on family life called by Francis.

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P. Zollner: Francesco sempre più impegnato nella lotta agli abusi

CITTA’ DEL VATICANO
Radio Vaticana

[P. Zollner: Francis is increasingly engaged in combating abuse.]

E’ in corso alla Gregoriana una conferenza sul tema “Protezione dei minori, un approccio spirituale e teologico”, promosso dal Centro per la protezione dei minori dell’ateneo pontificio, in cui i rappresentanti della Conferenze episcopali di lingua inglese si confrontano sull’impegno nella prevenzione degli abusi sessuali sui minori. Su questo evento, Alessandro Gisotti ha intervistato il presidente del Centro, il padre gesuita Hans Zollner:

R. – Questa volta abbiamo voluto concentrarci su una cosa che, stranamente, per trent’anni e più, nessuno ha preso molto sul serio: cioè la risposta teologica alla crisi degli abusi. Abbiamo dimenticato che c’è anche una dimensione spirituale e teologica, cioè cosa possiamo dire, come questa crisi degli abusi ha stravolto l’immagine della Chiesa, come ha impattato nella nostra relazione con Gesù, come comprendiamo oggi i Sacramenti del sacerdozio e dell’essere vescovi? E quindi, questa è la prima conferenza in assoluto – per quanto ne sappia – che ha come tema unico la risposta teologica e spirituale agli abusi, anche come un’occasione di ripensare la teologia del sacerdozio, del ministero, la missione della Chiesa, la domanda della continua purificazione necessaria affinché noi possiamo proclamare con verità e credibilità la “buona novella” di Gesù.

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Anglican Safe Church Network welcomes Australian bishop’s vow to deal with past abuses

AUSTRALIA
Anglican Communion News Service

By ACNS staff

The Anglican Communion Safe Church Network (ACSCN) has welcomed steps that the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle of the Anglican Church of Australia is taking to address past cases of abuse within the Diocese.

The Diocese of Newcastle has launched the initiative Facing the past: Shaping a healthy future to address a “history of abuse within the Anglican Church in its area,” Bishop Gregory Thompson has announced.

In an open letter of apology, Bishop Thompson expressed “profound shame and regret that individuals within the Church harmed people and harmed them again when they came forward to speak of what had happened”.

He spoke openly about a culture in the Diocese that allowed bullying and abuse to happen, and the inadequate responses to survivors. He vowed that under his leadership there would be “no accommodation to cultures that minimise the conduct of perpetrators and diminish victims and survivors”.

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He abused boy while training in Rome…

NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

He abused boy while training in Rome… yet he was still allowed to prey on kids for 40 more years

BY DEBORAH MCALEESE – 23 JUNE 2015

The Catholic Church has been accused of “protecting their own” rather than the child abuse victims of notorious paedophile priest Brendan Smyth.

Decades of failures by individuals and Church institutions to deal with Smyth and prevent further abuse are currently under examination by the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry (HIAI).

During a day of shocking revelations yesterday, it emerged that suspicions within the Catholic Church about the serial child abuser were discussed even before he was ordained into the priesthood.

The inquiry team was told that the Church had been aware of allegations that Smyth had abused a young boy in Rome while he was there studying as a student priest.

His superiors within the Norbertine Order ignored warnings from a senior priest in Rome not to ordain him, the inquiry heard.

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Lawyer accuses John Furlong of dropping defamation suit against Laura Robinson to avoid witnesses

CANADA
Georgia Straight

by Carlito Pablo on June 22nd, 2015

A lawyer has accused John Furlong of not wanting to see his defamation suit against a journalist tried in court because he was afraid more people would come forward and testify that he allegedly abused them.

Bryan Baynham—counsel for Laura Robinson, author of an in-depth article published by the Georgia Straight about Furlong’s previously undisclosed early years in Canada and the abuses he allegedly committed at that time against First Nations students—said today (June 22) in B.C. Supreme Court that the former Vancouver Olympics CEO was interested only in litigating the matter in the court of public opinion.

Baynham offered a possible reason why: “Mr. Furlong, you never wanted to appear before the 30 individuals that have been named in the response to evidence in court, isn’t that right?”

Furlong, who was alleged to have racially taunted and physically abused students in eight sworn statements gathered by Robinson for the Straight story, denied this was the case.

“It’s not right. I just gave you the reason we did it,” Furlong responded.

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Furlong Grilled on Who He Sued and Why

CANADA
The Tyee

By Bob Mackin, Today, TheTyee.ca

Former Vancouver 2010 Olympics CEO John Furlong said under cross-examination June 22 that he dropped his defamation lawsuit against Laura Robinson because he felt “vindicated in the court of public opinion,” but did not say why he never sued over allegations of sexual abuse.

Bryan Baynham played CBC news reports from September 2012 and October 2013 that included allegations of sexual abuse by former student Beverly Abraham that were not in Robinson’s Georgia Straight story.

“You never sued CBC for the allegations of sexual abuse, you never sued [Ontario aboriginal newspaper] Anishinabek News at all, you never sued Laura Robinson for publishing allegations of sexual abuse,” Baynham said in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver. “You didn’t add that to the claim, did you?”

Replied Furlong: “I sued Laura Robinson for her behaviour and conduct in the whole matter.”

Furlong later explained that the three lawsuits by people claiming to be ex-students of his took precedence. “These three which were far and away the worst things said about me in my life, which she had advanced and had been involved in my view all the way along. I had been completely vindicated in the court of public opinion and it was time to move on in my life.”

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Controversial faith backs abuse inquiry

AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

JEHOVAH’S Witnesses say they are fully co-operating with a royal commission that will hold a public inquiry into the denomination’s handling of child sexual abuse allegations.

A SPOKESMAN for the Witnesses said in a statement released on Tuesday that they consider the safety of children to be of utmost importance and were committed “to doing all we can to prevent child abuse”.

On Monday, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse announced it would hold a public inquiry into the denomination.

The hearing, which could run for two weeks, will start in Sydney on July 27.

The experience of survivors of child sexual abuse within the sometimes controversial Witnesses will be presented in evidence.

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Rabbi accused of molestation caught on video in questionable act

FLORIDA
WSVN

[with video]

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (WSVN) — Surveillance video has surfaced that may show a South Florida rabbi accused of inappropriately touching an 11-year-old girl, giving a parent an envelope believed to contain money to stay quiet over the entire ordeal.

The video, taken from a Miami Beach restaurant, appears to show a man who witnesses identified as Rabbi Steve Karro, sitting next to a woman and handing her an envelope.

The woman’s child, according to Miami Beach Police, was molested by Karro. They said he kissed the girl on the neck and touched her backside.

A closer look at the video appears to show a child who was with the mother walking up to the rabbi to give him a hug. That child is not the one who accused Karro of molesting her. There then appears to be an exchange of an envelope.

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Video Raises New Questions About Rabbi Accused Of Child Molestation

FLORIDA
CBS Miami

Carey Codd

MIAMI BEACH (CBSMiami) – New surveillance video is focusing attention on part-time Rabbi Steve Karro, and his actions in the days before he was arrested last month for molesting a child.

The man in the video is believed to be Karro, who is accused of molesting an 11-year-old girl at an art gallery he owns on Miami Beach.

The woman – whose face was blurred to protect her child – is the mother of the victim.

CBS4’s Carey Codd was told the woman was at work at a restaurant when Karro gave her an envelope.
It’s unclear what was inside that envelope.

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John Furlong denies implying journalist attempted extortion before Olympics

CANADA
CTV

Tamsyn Burgmann, The Canadian Press
Published Monday, June 22, 2015

VANCOUVER – The former Vancouver Olympics boss has testified he was told allegations he physically abused a former student decades earlier could be made to “go away” for a payment of $5,000 – but he denied ever insinuating a freelance journalist was complicit in the extortion.

John Furlong told a civil court trial he holds Laura Robinson accountable for making his life “unbearable,” which included circumstances relating to the accidental death of his wife in a car crash in Ireland.

But he said he never suggested Robinson was involved in an extortion attempt that came just months before the 2010 Winter Olympics.

“That stunned me. It was a shocking moment. I sat at my desk and I wondered, is this about embarrassing me or embarrassing the Olympics?” Furlong told B.C. Supreme Court on Monday, revealing details of a secretive meeting publicly for the first time.

Furlong was testifying in his defence as Robinson seeks damages for defamation over comments Furlong made after the journalist wrote two articles carrying allegations about him.

The stories reported allegations of abuse stemming from Furlong’s position teaching physical education at a Roman Catholic school that was mostly attended by First Nations students in British Columbia’s Interior.

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John Furlong blames article for wife’s death

CANADA
CBC News

By Jason Proctor, CBC News Posted: Jun 22, 2015

Former Olympics CEO John Furlong says he blames a damaging Georgia Straight article for the death of his wife.

Furlong testified in B.C. Supreme Court that Deborah Furlong died in a car accident in April 2013 while the two were in Ireland escaping stress from publication of allegations he abused children in Burns Lake more than 40 years earlier.

“It cost me my wife,” he said.

The two had been married 299 days.

Furlong says a doctor at a Dublin hospital told him she was dead: “It was the most broken I think I’ve ever felt.”

‘One of the worst mornings of my life’

At times emotional and at times testy, Furlong took the stand in his own defence at the start of the second week of a landmark civil defamation suit.

The reporter who wrote the September 2012 article, Laura Robinson, claims Furlong defamed her in his responses to the piece, implying she was unethical, unprofessional and motivated by a personal vendetta.

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Fairbanks Priest Sentenced To 10 Years In Prison For Child Sex Crimes

ALASKA
SitNews

June 22, 2015
Monday PM

(SitNews) – Clint Michael Landry, 58, of Fairbanks, Alaska, was sentenced by Chief United States District Court Judge Ralph R. Beistline to 10 years in prison to be followed by a lifetime period of supervised release for Attempted Enticement of a Minor. At the time of the offense, the Landry was employed as a priest with the Catholic Diocese in Fairbanks, Alaska. He had been in that position since June 2011.

According to the filed plea agreement and sentencing memoranda in the case, in May 2014, the defendant was caught using a work computer to receive images of child pornography through his Yahoo email account. A search of the computer found multiple sexually-explicit Instant Messages (IM) between the defendant and others believed to be located in the Philippines. In many of these IMs, the defendant is negotiating with a Filipino coconspirator about viewing sexually explicit conduct involving minors through webcams and Skype communications.

Between June 2013, and May 2014, the defendant engaged in negotiations with individuals in the Philippines for the purpose of viewing online sex shows. The defendant communicated with at least eight different Yahoo accounts for the purpose of viewing live videos through Skype or other streaming services of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. In at least three of these communications, the defendant sought access to sex shows involving children younger than 11 years old.

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Sex-abuse victim tells priest’s sentencing hearing wood smell triggers memories

CANADA
The News Review

The Canadian Press

IQALUIT, Nunavut – There’s a smell that brings it all back.

One whiff, and once again he’s a little boy being raped by a priest in a dank furnace room at the Catholic mission in Igloolik, Nunavut.

“Whenever I smell moldy wood, it takes me back to that place,” the man told a court in Iqaluit on Monday during the sentencing hearing for his onetime tormentor. “It makes me angry.”

Eric Dejaeger, a defrocked Oblate priest, was convicted last fall for 32 sex crimes ranging from indecent assault to bestiality against Inuit children. A long lineup of his former victims, who were children between 1978 and 1982 when the assaults occurred, are finally getting their chance to tell Dejaeger what he did to them in a two-day hearing which began under heavy security.

More than a dozen people were expected to testify on Monday, including the man haunted by that odour.

– See more at: http://www.yorktonnews.com/community/sex-abuse-victim-tells-priest-s-sentencing-hearing-wood-smell-triggers-memories-1.1735340#sthash.dRTni4wy.dpuf

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Fr Brendan Smyth confession: I had hundreds of child sex victims

NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

BY DEBORAH MCALEESE – 23 JUNE 2015

Ireland’s most notorious paedophile priest Brendan Smyth admitted to having potentially abused more than 200 children during his years in the priesthood, it has been revealed.

The full extent of the serial sex abuser’s offending has never been revealed.

However, Smyth himself believed the number of victims he abused could be in the many hundreds.

In his own words, which were yesterday made public for the first time during a hearing of the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, Smyth told a doctor in 1994: “Over the years of religious life it could be that I have sexually abused between 50 and 100 children. That number could even be double, or perhaps even more.”

The inquiry heard that Smyth received psychiatric treatment many times during his time in the priesthood.

Smyth was convicted of more than 100 indecent assaults against children across Ireland, offences which took place over a 40-year period. He died in prison in 1997 after a heart attack.

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June 22, 2015

Furlong says abuse allegations in newspaper article ‘absolutely not true’

CANADA
The Globe and Mail

SUNNY DHILLON
VANCOUVER — The Globe and Mail
Published Monday, Jun. 22, 2015

The former CEO of the Vancouver Olympics says allegations contained in a newspaper article that said he physically abused students when he was a gym teacher in northern British Columbia and separate claims of sexual abuse were “absolutely not true, not ever.”

John Furlong began his testimony in a B.C. Supreme Court defamation case on Monday.

Freelance journalist Laura Robinson authored an article about Mr. Furlong that was published by the weekly newspaper Georgia Straight in September, 2012. The physical-abuse allegations against Mr. Furlong stemmed from his time as a gym instructor at Immaculata Roman Catholic Elementary School in Burns Lake, B.C, in 1969-70.

Mr. Furlong had filed lawsuits against Ms. Robinson and the Georgia Straight, but ultimately abandoned both. Ms. Robinson, however, has continued her case against Mr. Furlong, alleging his response to the story was defamatory because he alleged she did not carry out due diligence and had a vendetta.

Mr. Furlong said the story received an avalanche of attention when it was published, calling it “one of the worst mornings of my life.” Alleging someone abused or sexually abused children is “about the worst thing you can say,” he told the court.

Mr. Furlong said he was flooded by calls when the story was posted and pressure was building to respond, so he held a news conference to read a prepared statement.

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Furlong had to respond to allegations of serious criminal acts: lawyer

CANADA
Times Colonist

The Canadian Press

VANCOUVER – The former Vancouver Olympics boss has testified he was told allegations he physically abused a former student decades earlier could be made to “go away” for a payment of $5,000 — but he denied ever insinuating a freelance journalist was complicit in the extortion.

John Furlong told a civil court trial he holds Laura Robinson accountable for making his life “unbearable,” which included circumstances relating to the accidental death of his wife in a car crash in Ireland.

But he said he never suggested Robinson was involved in an extortion attempt that came just months before the 2010 Winter Olympics.

“That stunned me. It was a shocking moment. I sat at my desk and I wondered, is this about embarrassing me or embarrassing the Olympics?” Furlong told B.C. Supreme Court on Monday, revealing details of a secretive meeting publicly for the first time.

Furlong was testifying in his defence as Robinson seeks damages for defamation over comments Furlong made after the journalist wrote two articles carrying allegations about him.

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John Furlong’s lawyer says statements about journalist Laura Robinson weren’t malicious

CANADA
Georgia Straight

by Carlito Pablo on June 22nd, 2015

The northern B.C. town of Burns Lake may not have gotten a mention in John Furlong’s autobiographical book, but according to the former Vancouver Olympics CEO, it’s a special place for him.

“My time in Burns Lake is precious to me,” Furlong said in his first day of testimony in the defamation suit filed against him by freelance journalist Laura Robinson.

Robinson was the author of “John Furlong biography omits secret past in Burns Lake”, an article published in the Georgia Straight on September 27, 2012.

According to the article, the former Vanoc boss first came to Canada in 1969, five years earlier than 1974, the year Furlong wrote in Patriot Hearts that he and his family arrived.

The story also reported on eight sworn affidavits by former students of Furlong at the Immaculata Elementary School, alleging that the native of Ireland taunted, bullied, and hurt First Nations students.

On the day Robinson’s story came out in the Straight, Furlong explained why he didn’t mention Burns Lake in his book.

“My time in Burns Lake was fairly brief and fairly uneventful,” Furlong said at a news conference.

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Furlong had to respond to allegations of serious criminal acts: B.C. lawyer

CANADA
CTV

Tamsyn Burgmann, The Canadian Press
Published Monday, June 22, 2015

VANCOUVER — For a payment of $5,000, John Furlong testified he was told that allegations he physically abused a former student decades earlier could be made to “go away.”

Furlong told a civil court trial that the bribery attempt came just months before the 2010 Winter Olympics, as the former Vancouver Games boss was preparing for the international sporting event.

“That stunned me. It was a shocking moment. I sat at my desk and I wondered, is this about embarrassing me or embarrassing the Olympics?” Furlong told B.C. Supreme Court on Monday.

Furlong was testifying in his defence against a lawsuit by freelance journalist Laura Robinson. She is seeking damages for defamation over comments Furlong made after she wrote two articles carrying allegations about him.

The stories made allegations of abuse related to Furlong’s work decades before as a physical education teacher at a Roman Catholic school mostly attended by First Nations students in British Columbia’s Interior.

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James Janssen

IOWA
Quad-City Times

June 20, 2015

BETTENDORF — James M. Janssen, 93, of Bettendorf passed away Wednesday, June 10, 2015, at Genesis Medical Center-West Central Park, Davenport. Private burial took place in Davenport.

James was born in Davenport on Nov. 5, 1921, the son of Orey and Margaret (Tierney) Janssen. He is survived by his sister, Dorothy, Davenport; and several nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents and several brothers and sisters.

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IA–Notorious Iowa predator priest passes

IOWA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, June 22

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

One of Iowa’s most prolific predator priests has passed away and a victims’ group wants Davenport Catholic officials to “aggressively seek out and help” others who the priest assaulted.

[Quad-City Times]

Fr. James M. Janssen reportedly abusing many boys, often along with other pedophile priests Fr. Francis Bass, Fr. Theodore Anthony Geerts, and Fr. James W. Murphy, and of pimping his victims to Bass, Murphy and Fr. William Wiebler. Janssen allegedly used sacrilege and petty crime to groom his victims, and sometimes took them out of state to abuse them. Janssen’s “stable of boys” ranged in ages from 5 to 18. He continued to abuse at least one into his twenties, and he kept in touch with several into their adulthood, according to multiple sources (see BishopAccountability.org)

Davenport Catholic officials were “warned about Janssen in 1948 before his first assignment, and he admitted abusing kids to a bishop in 1958. Yet he worked as a priest for 42 years in 14 parishes and was pastor at four of them for a total of 23 years. He was on the Priests’ Personnel Board for 13 years and was a Boy Scout chaplain for a decade.

Despite repeated pledges to be “open and transparent” about clergy sex crimes, Janssen’s long-time colleagues and supervisors in the Davenport Catholic diocese apparently has told no one in the public or the parishes. We suspect he didn’t tell police or prosecutors either. Sadly, none of the dozens of current or former Davenport diocesan employees saw fit to spread the news either.

Being honest about the death of a credibly accused predator priest matters for several reasons:

First, it’s comforting when victims know that their perpetrator can no longer hurt any other kids. But that doesn’t happen (or happens years later) if the predator’s death is kept secret.

Second, sometimes victims who are trapped in fear, shame and self-blame feel ‘liberated’ when their perpetrator dies. They are then more apt to speak up, get help, expose wrongdoing and start healing. But that doesn’t happen (or happens years later) if the predator’s death is kept secret.

Third, it’s important and reassuring when bishops keep their promises to be open about clergy sex crimes and cover ups. And it’s distressing – for victims, witnesses, whistleblowers and parishioners – when they do not.

So it’s callous and selfish for bishops and other Catholic staff to keep secret about the death of a pedophile priests.

We call on Davenport Bishop Martin Amos and every single diocesan or parish employee in the Davenport Diocese to show some courage, break their silence, act with compassion and use every possible means to reach out to and help others who were sexually violated by Janssen and his complicit clerical criminal colleagues. It’s not enough for a church official to say “We’re sorry for their crimes.” Church officials must use their vast resources – parish websites, pulpit announcements, new releases and church bulletins – to seek out and console those who have been suffering for decades because of these predators.

Finally, we commend the brave men who were hurt as kids by Janssen and found the strength to expose Janssen and those who protected him for decades and sought – and won – justice in the courts. We hope his passing brings them comfort, knowing that Janssen will no longer ever be able to assault anyone else.

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Paedophile priest Brendan Smyth told doctor he may have sexually abused hundreds of children, inquiry hears

NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Mirror

BY LESLEY-ANNE MCKEOWN

The notorious cleric made the admission in February 1994 – the year he was jailed for his crimes

Paedophile priest Brendan Smyth told a doctor he may have sexually abused hundreds of children, an inquiry has heard.

The notorious cleric made the admission in February 1994 – the year he was jailed for his crimes.

He said: “Over the years of religious life it could be that I have sexually abused between 50 and 100 children. That number could even be doubled or perhaps even more.”

Northern Ireland’s long-running Historical Abuse Inquiry is holding a focused module into how Smyth, a member of the Norbertine Order, was allowed to continue offending for more than four decades.

Joseph Aiken, counsel for the inquiry said it was the first time the serial child molester’s comments had been made public.

Mr Aiken said: “The story that’s about to unfold over the coming days is steeped in deep and prolonged human suffering of the abused.

“The inquiry will have to consider whether it is also a story of a litany of missed opportunities to properly deal with Smyth by a significant number of individuals who were themselves in positions of considerable trust, power and influence not only over him, his victims and their families.”

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FAR ROCKAWAY MAN UNDER ARREST FOR UNLAWFUL IMPRISONMENT OF A MINOR

NEW YORK
Long Island Exchange

(Long Island, NY) The Fourth Squad reports the details of an arrest for Unlawful Imprisonment that occurred on Saturday, June 20, 2015 in Cedarhurst.

According to detectives, defendant Yan Kossa, 39, of Far Rockaway was worshiping at the Chabad located at 74 Maple Avenue when he approached a 7 year old female victim and asked her if she wanted to come outside with him. The defendant led the victim outside and placed her into his automobile.

The defendant then returned to the Chabad and notified the child’s father what he did. The child was found safe inside the vehicle which was parked down the street from the Chabad.

Defendant Yan Kossa is being charged with Unlawful Imprisonment 2nd Degree and Endangering the Welfare of a Child. He was arraigned on Sunday, June 21, 2015 at First District Court, 99 Main Street, Hempstead.

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Police: Queens Man Lures Girl From Chabad Into His Car, Tells Her Father

NEW YORK
CBS New York

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — A Queens man was arrested for luring a child into his car on Long Island, according to police.

On Saturday, Yan Kossa, 39, of Far Rockaway, was worshiping at the Chabad located at 74 Maple Avenue when he approached a 7-year-old girl and asked her if she wanted to go outside with him, police said.

Kossa then led the girl outside and put her inside his car, police said.

He then went back into the Chabad and told the girl’s father what he did, according to authorities.

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Man confesses to girl’s father after abducting 7-year-old from LI synagogue: police

NEW YORK
WPIX

JUNE 22, 2015, BY JEREMY TANNER

CEDARHURST, Long Island – Police arrested a man accused of luring a young girl from a synagogue on Long Island over the weekend.

Yan Kossa, 39, was worshipping at Chabad of the Five Towns on Maple Avenue Saturday when he struck up a conversation with a 7-year-old girl, according to Nassau County police. After convincing her to walk outside with him, he then allegedly lured her into his vehicle.

With the child inside the automobile, Kossa walked back to the synagogue and confessed what he had done to the girl’s father. Police officers responding to the scene found the man’s daughter still inside the vehicle, which was parked down the street.

The girl was unharmed, and Kossa now faces charges of unlawful imprisonment and endangering the welfare of a child.

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Rachel Notley calls for inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women

CANADA
CBC News

By Michelle Bellefontaine, CBC News

Premier Rachel Notley has apologized to indigenous Albertans for the government’s past silence on residential schools.

“We want the First Nation, Métis and Inuit people of Alberta to know that we deeply regret the profound harm and damage that occurred to generations of children forced to attend residential schools,” Notley told the legislature Monday.

“Although the province of Alberta did not establish this system, members of this chamber at the time did not take a stand against it. For this silence, we apologize.”

As survivors of residential schools looked on, Notley told them that “in the journey of reconciliation, you no longer have to walk alone.”

She vowed that the government will make a “fundamental shift” in its relationship with First Nations, Métis and Inuit people.

Notley became emotional as she called for the establishment of a national inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women.

“We join the families, national aboriginal organizations, the province, the territories to lend our voice to the call for a national inquiry, because it is the right thing to do,” Notley said.

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Monsignor Nicholas Ruba

IOWA
Sioux City Journal

REMSEN, Iowa | Monsignor Nicholas J. Ruba, 89, of Remsen died Saturday, June 20, 2015, at Happy Siesta Health Care Center in Remsen.

Services will be 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Remsen. Burial will be in St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery at Remsen. Visitation will be anytime after 4 p.m. Tuesday, with a parish rosary at 5 p.m. and a vigil prayer service at 7 p.m., followed by a Knights of Columbus rosary, at Fisch Funeral Home & Monument in Remsen.

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Msgr. Nicholas J. Ruba

IOWA
Daily Sentinel

Sunday, June 21, 2015

(Photo) Msgr. Nicholas J. Ruba, 89, of Remsen, died Saturday, June 20, 2015, at Happy Siesta Health Care Center, in Remsen.

Msgr. Nicholas was born Aug. 7, 1925, at rural Remsen, the son of Nick and Catherine (Loutsch) Ruba. He was raised and educated in both rural school and St. Mary’s School, graduating in 1943.
He then attended Trinity College, in Sioux City, graduating in 1947.

He then enrolled in Kenrick Seminary, in St. Louis, for four years and was ordained a priest in 1951.

Over the years he served at many Catholic parishes.

From 1951 to 1954, he was the assistant at St. Peter Paul Parish, in Carroll.

From 1954 to 1958, he was the assistant at Blessed Sacrament, in Sioux City.

From 1958 to 1961, he was the pastor at Christ The King Parish, in Dayton,.

From 1961 to 1968, he was the pastor at St. Benedict Parish, in Algona.

From 1968 to 1986 he was the pastor at St. Michael’s Parish, in Sioux City.

From 1986 to 1992, he was the pastor at St. Mary’s Parish, in Alton.

From 1992 to 1996, he served as pastor at St. Andrews Parish, in Sibley.

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Cardinal Brady to give evidence on Fr Brendan Smyth

IRELAND
Irish Times

Gerry Moriarty

Retired Archbishop of Armagh Cardinal Sean Brady has stated there was a culture of “secrecy and silence” in the Catholic Church which believed issues of child abuse could be managed internally.

Cardinal Brady, who as far back as 1975 heard allegations of sexual abuse against Fr Brendan Smyth, is to give evidence at the Historical Institutional Abuse inquiry in Banbridge, Co Down on Thursday.

The inquiry is this week examining whether the church was guilty of systemic failings in how it dealt with the paedophile priest who faced allegations of sexual abuse relating back to the late 1940s.

Failings that allowed notorious paedophile priest Brendan Smyth (above) to abuse children for four decades will be examined by a public inquiry on Monday Brendan Smyth may have abused more than 200 children

In a statement to the inquiry about the overall issue of sexual abuse, Cardinal Brady said that “sadly at that time there was a culture within the church of secrecy and silence” where “it was felt that matters could be dealt with within the church structures themselves”.

He added: “Further, there was not a proper understanding of the devastating consequences of child abuse.

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We need a new way of choosing bishops

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Robert Mickens | Jun. 22, 2015

Certain Catholics love to repeat ad nauseam that the church is not a democracy, especially when it comes to decision-making and the selection of leadership.

And thank God it is not.

Nor should it aspire to be if the democratic model is the dysfunctional political and electoral system at work in places like the United States.

But that doesn’t mean all is well with the way the Roman church makes its pastoral-administrative decisions, discerns the call of the Spirit, or chooses its bishops.

Quite the contrary.

The inadequate leadership displayed by too many bishops in the United States and other parts of the world the past couple of decades has made that point painfully clear. One wonders how some of these men were ever put in a position of such weighty responsibility.

The most recent case that has American Catholics scratching their heads is that of Archbishop John Nienstedt.

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Smyth ‘may have abused hundreds of children’

NORTHERN IRELAND
UTV

Story by Chris Chambers @chris_utv

The comment was said to have been made by Smyth to a doctor in 1994, the year he was jailed for his crimes.

Joseph Aiken, counsel to the Historical Abuse Inquiry (HIA), said the priest admitted: “Over the years of religious life it could be that I have sexually abused 50 to 100 children – that number could even be doubled or perhaps even more.”

The latest module of long-running inquiry began on Monday and is focusing on how Smyth, who was eventually convicted of more than 100 child abuse charges over a 40-year period, got away with his crimes for so long.

It is looking at whether any steps taken or not taken to deal with him amount to systemic failings, and is expected to last a week.

Smyth was at the centre of one of the first clerical child sex abuse scandals to rock the Catholic Church in Ireland.

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“He ought never to have been ordained” – Fr Brendan Smyth’s order

NORTHERN IRELAND
The Journal

THE CRIMES OF Fr Brendan Smyth, one of the first Catholic priests to be outed as a paedophile in the early 1990s, are being focused upon this week by Northern Ireland’s Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry (HIA).

In a statement read before the inquiry this morning by Junior Counsel Joseph Aiken in Banbridge, Co. Down, Fr William Fitzgerald, of the Norbertine Order to which Smyth belonged, said that the notorious abuser “ought never to have been ordained”.

Fitzgerald confirmed that “warning signs had surfaced” as to Smyth’s nature prior to his ordination.

This pattern of behaviour to maintain his freedom to do as he chose was already apparent while in formation.

Fitzgerald maintained that from his knowledge Smyth was “a very intelligent man”.

On reflection it is clear that he used that intelligence and naked cunning to engineer circumstances in which to abuse children, and also to intimidate and oppose the efforts of those who sought to confront him and restrict his activities

I am of the view that, while he never held any significant position within the church, he had a significant presence and influence with which he silenced and ridiculed those who would oppose him.

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