ABUSE TRACKER

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

A Newcastle court has heard there are around 40 witnesses in their case against Catholic Archbishop Philip Wilson, who’s been charged with concealing child sexual abuse.

Adelaide’s Archbishop Philip Wilson was excused from his second Newcastle local court appearance this morning.

He has previously pleaded not guilty to concealing the serious indictable offence of another person.

The charge relates to when Wilson was an assistant parish priest in East Maitland in the 1970s, and worked with paedophile priest James Fletcher.

The court today heard the brief of evidence, which is more than 2,000 pages long, has been served.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

By Jennifer Bjorhus Star Tribune JUNE 16, 2015

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is seeking to hire former federal prosecutor Joseph Dixon III to defend it against new criminal and civil accusations that it failed to protect children from an abusive priest.

And given that the archdiocese is in bankruptcy and short on cash, Dixon is charging a reduced rate of $400 an hour, court documents show.

“This reflects a substantial discount,” Dixon said in his engagement letter.

The papers are part of the archdiocese’s application to hire Dixon and the law firm where he works, Fredrikson & Byron, as special criminal counsel. The application was filed Tuesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, a day after the church’s sexual abuse scandal forced the resignation of Archbishop John Nienstedt and his second in command, Bishop Lee Anthony Piché.

Dixon is a legal sharpshooter, a well-regarded former assistant U.S. attorney best known for sending Ponzi fraudster Tom Petters to prison. After a stint at insurance giant UnitedHealth Group Inc., he jumped to Fredrikson & Byron — and to the defense side of the bar — saying he missed the courtroom.

Dixon didn’t respond Tuesday to messages for comment.

The archdiocese said it needs Dixon because the recent criminal charges could affect the availability of insurance to cover mounting claims, and have “serious repercussions” on the bankruptcy estate’s finances. Ramsey County Attorney John Choi filed the charges earlier this month.

Dixon’s fees would add to the stack of legal bills generated since the archdiocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization Jan. 16. It has been racking up legal and professional costs at the rate of $473,000 to $887,000 a month, the archdiocese estimates. The latest monthly operating report, filed for April, shows the church owed nearly $1.6 million in legal and professional fees. Most of the costs are for the archdiocese’s main bankruptcy attorneys at Briggs and Morgan.

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AUSTRALIA
MICE BTN

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Leaders in the field of ‘victim services and research’ will discuss the latest ways to improve the lives of victims at the 15th International Symposium of the World Society of Victimology (WSV), to be held 05 – 09 July in Perth, Western Australia.

Organised by Victim Support Australia in partnership with angelhands, the Australian Institute of Criminology and the WSV and sponsored by the Western Australian Government, the Symposium is expected to attract more than 450 professionals including victims’ advocates, researchers, police, child protection workers, lawyers and social workers.

The theme of the Symposium is Victimisation, justice and healing: challenging orthodoxies and a number of international and national speakers will provide keynote addresses including: Professor Sandra Walklate, an internationally recognised expert in victimology (particularly criminal victimisation and the fear of crime) from the University of Liverpool’s Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology; professor Eric Stover, who will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of a victim-centred approach at international criminal courts. Stover is faculty director of the Human Rights Center and Adjunct Professor of Law and Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley and commissioner Helen Milroy from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Newcastle’s Anglican Bishop has fought back tears while apologising for past church cover-ups and the poor handling of complaints about child sexual abuse.

Greg Thompson has spent 500 days in the job, and to mark that milestone today he talked of cover-ups, collusion and intimidation.

He said that system of operation within the church hierarchy is over.

“I’m devastated by the accounts of abuse,” he said.

“I am so sorry for the terrible harm done and by a culture that would not listen.”

He said there was a culture that allowed bullying and abuse, and there was a system of intimidation that left victims silent.

Bishop Thompson said more than $4 million has already been paid to abuse survivors in the Hunter, but no amount of money can compensate them for their pain.

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MINNESOTA
KFGO

by Jim Monk

FARGO (KFGO-AM) – A group that represents thousands of clergy sex abuse victims around the world is worried that former Minnesota priest Joseph Jeyapaul will re-offend after he’s deported back to India.

Jeyapaul was sentenced in a plea deal Monday to a year in jail already served for sexually molesting a teenage girl.

Barbara Dorris of Chicago is the outreach director for “SNAP”, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. “Our fear is that he is being deported to India, where he will be free in a group of children that are extremely vulnerable,” Dorris said. “We had hoped that the justice system would have pursued all charges and found a way to keep him locked up.”

Dorris says Jeyapaul’s sentence is “extremely frustrating” because he’s destroyed the lives of at least two young girls. “He’s basically paying no penalty for that,” she said.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
St. Louis Public Radio

[with audio]

By STEPHANIE LECCI

At their annual spring meeting held in St. Louis last week, U.S Catholic bishops discussed several issues currently facing the Catholic Church, including: the clergy sex abuse scandal, what the Church sees as challenges to marriage, and the pope’s upcoming encyclical on the environment.

St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson attended the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops meeting, where he spoke with reporter Stephanie Lecci. An excerpted interview aired on “St. Louis on the Air” and part of it is included below: …

On steps the Church is taking to combat clergy sex abuse of children and the pope’s new Vatican tribunal to hear cases of bishops accused of covering up cases of abuse

I think it’s a good thing. Obviously, as I look back over my more than 30 years as a bishop, the whole thing has changed a great deal. I think there were changes in the ’90s, and then again in 2002, and there’s still changes that we need. But the pope has brought it to the attention of the whole church, so it’s something that we are working on.

When I came to St. Louis, I felt that they had a very good review board process, and my commitment has always been to listen to them and to follow what this group of experts feels is the right way to proceed. And I think it’s a wonderful way that laity, whether you’re a grandmother in the community or psychologist or an attorney or a counselor, or whatever you might be, can listen to what victims are saying and can give a recommendation to me. And my commitment is to follow… the advice I receive from this group. As a matter of fact, you can check, I’ve absolutely followed their advice since I came here.

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VATICAN CITY
The New York Times

By JIM YARDLEY and ELISABETTA POVOLEDO
JUNE 16, 2015

ROME — The unexpected leak of Pope Francis’ much-anticipated environmental encyclical has meant the return of something that not long ago was fairly common around the Vatican but had become often dormant during the two-plus years of Francis’ mostly charmed papacy: intrigue.

Who leaked it and why? Was this the work of frustrated conservatives in the Vatican, as some experts have speculated? Does it portend big fights at a pivotal October meeting in which church officials are expected to grapple with homosexuality and divorce? Or is it just a tempest in a teapot?

“Somebody inside the Vatican leaked the document with the obvious intention of embarrassing the pope,” said Robert Mickens, a longtime Vatican expert and editor of Global Pulse, an online Catholic magazine.

The Vatican press office was tense on Tuesday. Hours after a draft of the encyclical was published Monday on the website of L’Espresso, an Italian magazine, the Vatican indefinitely revoked the credentials of Sandro Magister, the journalist who wrote a short introduction that accompanied the magazine’s publication of the draft. Vatican officials say the leaked draft is not the final version of the encyclical, which has been barred from release until Thursday.

Leaks are hardly uncommon in journalism — some would consider them sustenance — and Vatican journalism has been no exception. Most recently, Pope Benedict XVI’s papacy was undermined when his butler leaked documents, in an episode known as VatiLeaks, that exposed infighting and discord in the Vatican. The scandal is considered one of the reasons that Benedict resigned, leading to the March 2013 election of Francis.

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CHILE
Piensa Chile

[More than 250 lay people in Chile have requested a visit from a papal commission to investigate issues involving Bishop Juan Barros.]

Más de 250 laicos en Chile solicitarán la visita de una Comisión papal para lograr la salida del Obispo Juan Barros

Reunidos en el Centro Cultural Latinoamericano de la población San Maxiliano Kolbe en Osorno, más de 250 Laicos procedentes de Valparaíso al sur, llegaron a la ciudad para participar en el primer encuentro nacional de este movimiento cristiano.

La actividad comenzó con una ceremonia de bienvenida que dio paso después a reuniones grupales donde se abordaron dos temas de importancia para los laicos, “la voz del laicado en la Iglesia Chilena” y “Osorno: Iglesia herida y dividida desde la llegada de Juan Barros”.

Mario Vargas, representante en Osorno del Movimiento de Laicos, señaló que “estamos felices con esta convocatoria que marca un precedente para Osorno, donde el obispo Juan Barros fue el tema central de análisis, que mantiene dividida a la comunidad cristiana local”.

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VATICAN CITY
Huffington Post

By Nicole Winfield

VATICAN CITY (AP) – There’s something of a whodunit going on in the Vatican to discover who leaked Pope Francis’ environment encyclical to an Italian newsweekly, deflating the release of the most anticipated and feared papal document in recent times.

L’Espresso magazine published the full 191 pages of “Laudato Si” (Be Praised) on its website Monday, three days before the official launch. The Vatican said it was just a draft, but most media ran with it, given that it covered many of the same points Francis and his advisers have been making in the run-up to the release.

On Tuesday, the Vatican indefinitely suspended the press credentials of L’Espresso’s veteran Vatican correspondent, Sandro Magister, saying the publication had been “incorrect.” A letter from the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, to Magister advising him of the sanction was posted on the bulletin board of the Vatican press office.

Magister told The Associated Press that his editor, not he, obtained the document and decided to publish it.

“I just wrote the introduction,” Magister said in a text message, adding that he had promised the Vatican to keep quiet about the scoop

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TEXAS
Star-Telegram

BY MITCH MITCHELL
mitchmitchell@star-telegram.com

A woman who said she was repeatedly raped by a charismatic pastor more than 18 years ago hesitated Tuesday as she pointed at the accused.

She cringed from the witness stand while she described an item of his clothing.

Testifying under the pseudonym April Moore, the 32-year-old woman said Geronimo Aguilar first noticed her when she was 11 or 12 and living in California.

“He got me a sweatshirt with a gorilla or a monkey on it,” Moore testified. “He was the cool guy so getting a gift from him was a big deal.”

Aguilar, now 45, is the former music minister of a church in Fort Worth and former pastor of a megachurch in Richmond, Va.

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REPUBLICA DOMINICANA
Al Momento

[Francisco Dominguez Brito, attorney general for the Dominican Republic welcome the decision of the Vatican court to prosecute former nuncio Josef Wesolowski, who is accursing of sexually abusing minors in the Dominican Republic. “In this, as in other cases, we have made and continue to make efforts as necessary for the truth to prevail and justice; there is justice in accordance with the law and international law, ” he said.]

Santo Domingo, 16 jun (EFE).- El procurador general de la República, Francisco Domínguez Brito, valoró hoy la decisión del Tribunal del Estado del Vaticano de enviar a juicio de fondo al ex nuncio Jósef Wesolowski, acusado de incurrir en un delito de abuso sexual en perjuicio de menores de edad de la República Dominicana.

“En este, como en otros casos, hemos hecho y seguiremos haciendo cuanto esfuerzos sean necesarios para que prevalezca la verdad y la justicia; que haya justicia con apego a la ley y al derecho internacional”,

“Se trata de un caso que ha lastimado profundamente a nuestra sociedad y debe de haber una decisión que se corresponda con el hecho en sí y el daño provocado a las víctimas”, manifestó Domínguez Brito.

Asimismo, resaltó la voluntad y el empeño de las autoridades del Vaticano para que el ex nuncio apostólico sea procesado, y afirmo que en este caso “he visto que hay voluntad y cooperación de parte de las autoridades del Vaticano”.

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FLORIDA
Sun Sentinel

By Paula McMahon
Sun Sentinel

Jurors took just 3 1/2 hours Tuesday to find Jeffery London, a church youth pastor, charter school disciplinarian and unofficial foster parent, guilty of a federal sex abuse charge.

London, 51, showed no visible reaction to the verdict. He faces 10 years to life in federal prison when he’s sentenced in August for using a cellphone to lure an underage boy into sexual activity.

The victim seemed overwhelmed by emotion and relief and put his head to his knees when the guilty verdict was announced in federal court in Fort Lauderdale. Later, he hugged prosecutors Francis Viamontes and Jodi Anton and the FBI agents who handled the case.

Now 20, the victim declined to comment on the verdict. He testified that London began sexually abusing him when he was just 7 years old and the assaults went on until he was 16.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

The church that has been a central part of St. Paul’s identity from our city’s first days is poised for a fresh start.

The resignations Monday of Archbishop John Nienstedt and Auxiliary Bishop Lee Anthony Piche were needed for the good of the local church, observers told the Pioneer Press.

The announcement came 10 days after the Ramsey County attorney’s office brought criminal charges against the archdiocese as an institution for its handling of the abuse case of a St. Paul pastor.

It’s a development whistleblower Jennifer Haselberger, the archdiocese’s former chancellor for canonical affairs, has called a tipping point.

The charges, six gross-misdemeanor counts brought by Ramsey County Attorney John Choi, are the result of a 20-month investigation.

The investigation continues, with a significant commitment: to allow the facts to lead the way.

Choi used those words in a statement Monday outlining his office’s intention to finish what it started and to “do only what the law allows and to do what justice requires without fear or favor.”

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CANADA
CBC News

Retired Catholic priest Paul-André Harvey pleaded guilty in a Chicoutimi court on Tuesday to sexual offences involving approximately 40 victims.

The 78-year-old man from the diocese of Chicoutimi admitted to committing the acts over a span of four decades. Most victims were between the ages of six and 12.

He pleaded guilty to nearly 40 charges.

Ten witnesses and victims were expected to testify today. Some people asked for the publication ban applied to their testimony be lifted so they could publicly share their experiences.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Cape Cod Times

By Ethan Genter
egenter@capecodonline.com

Posted Jun. 16, 2015

A Falmouth man who alleges he was sexually abused by a St. Anthony’s Parish priest more than 200 times as a child has filed a lawsuit against the priest’s supervisor, the former bishop of the Fall River Diocese.

The civil suit, filed June 5 in Middlesex Superior Court, maintains that former Bishop Daniel A. Cronin knew or should have known about the abuse by Msgr. Maurice Souza.

The Falmouth plaintiff is joined in the suit by a man from Marlboro. The two were altar servers at St. Anthony’s from the late 1970s until the mid 1980s. Although both are identified in the suit, the Times is not naming them because of the allegations of sexual abuse.

Souza died in 1996, and Cronin, who served as bishop of the Fall River Diocese from 1970 until 1991, retired in 2003 after leading the Archdiocese of Hartford for 11 years.

The lawsuit originally was filed in Connecticut, but was dismissed there and filed in Massachusetts when Cronin agreed to travel here to testify and to waive the statute of limitations as a defense, according to Mitchell Garabedian, the plaintiffs’ attorney.

“It’s unusual that a defendant would waive the statute of limitations,” Garabedian said Monday. “Most of these cases the defendants raise the statute of limitations as a defense.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
Taunton Gazette

Brian Fraga
Herald News Staff Reporter

Posted Jun. 16, 2015

FALL RIVER — A lawsuit that accuses former Fall River Bishop Daniel A. Cronin of being negligent in failing to supervise a priest who allegedly molested two boys in the 1970s and 80s has been refiled in Massachusetts.

Originally submitted last year in Connecticut, the lawsuit was filed June 5 in Massachusetts after Cronin, the retired archbishop of Hartford, agreed to transfer the case and travel to Massachusetts to testify. Cronin also agreed to waive any statute of limitation defense.

“These two concessions are significant,” said Boston attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who is representing the two plaintiffs.

The original lawsuit had also named the Diocese of Fall River as a defendant, but the diocese is not named in the new lawsuit, a move that Garabedian described as a strategic legal decision.

The lawsuit alleges that the late Monsignor Maurice Souza sexually assaulted the victims from the time they were approximately 9 and 10 years old to when both were 17 years of age. Both alleged victims met Souza when he was the pastor of St. Anthony’s Church in East Falmouth, according to court documents.

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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC/VATICAN
Latin Times

By Cedar Attanasio | Jun 16 2015

Vatican officials announced on Monday that they will try former Archbishop and diplomat Jozef Wesolowski on charges of statutory rape solicitation committed in the Dominican Republic, as well as possession of child pornography inside the Vatican. Church officials say that he could face six to ten years of imprisonment if found guilty. Wesolowski, 66, is Polish and also a citizen of the Vatican. His trial, which begins on July 11th, will be the first of it’s kind; no one has ever been charged with child abuse in the Vatican. The announcement comes after the former priest has effectively evaded justice in other countries for over two years, shielded by the power of the Catholic Church.

In addition to allegedly paying for sex with child prostitutes in the Dominican Republic, Vatican officials found child pornography on his computer after he returned to Rome. Thousands of images reportedly depicted minors between 13 and 17 forced to engage in sexual acts. Many were downloaded from the internet, while others reportedly appear to have been taken by victims themselves. It’s unclear if any of the images involved Wesolowski’s alleged victims in the Dominican Republic. …

“We have formally opened an investigation,” Dominican Attorney General Francisco Dominguez Brito told reporters in 2013. “Here we have to work with two legal aspects, first national laws and also international laws in his status as a diplomat, which implies other mechanisms of investigation and judgment.”

Before the investigation concluded, however, the Vatican recalled Wesolowski, effectively saving him from arrest. The move also insured that the Church could protect Wesolowski without the embarrassment of invoking diplomatic immunity. The Vatican denied that the timing had anything to do with helping their diplomat avoid prosecution.

“The recall of the ambassador is by no means an effort to avoid taking responsibility for what might possibly be verified,” a Vatican spokesman said at the time.

What did responsibility mean? The Vatican initially tried Wesolowski under the Church’s canon law, and found enough evidence to defrock the apparent pedophile. Defrocking is the most severe punishment for a member of the clergy, but it’s a far cry from a jail cell. Meanwhile, Wesolowski’s colleague, Rev. Wojciech Gil, was put on trial in Poland for abusing six altar boys. Gil, who is also Polish, worked alongside Wesolowski in the Dominican Republic, where he confessed to abusing four boys. The other two were abused in Poland. In March of 2015 Gil was sentenced to seven years in prison, and ordered to pay damages to his victims.

In 2014 Vatican officials confirmed that Wesolowski no longer had diplomatic immunity, and was open to prosecution. However, Vatican officials refused to extradite him to any countries where they do not have a specific extradition treaty, which include the Dominican Republic as well as Poland (another place where Wesolowski was charged with child rape). In fact, the Vatican has no extradition treaty with any country, despite reforms spearheaded by Pope Francis in 2013 that make it easier for officials to extradite. That still made the Vatican into something of a golden cage for the former priest. For example, Italy has an extradition treaty with the Dominican Republic, so he couldn’t step outside the tiny Vatican grounds without fear of arrest.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

By Thomas Farragher GLOBE COLUMNIST JUNE 16, 2015

Even for an institution that measures its history in centuries, not decades, the Vatican’s move toward sanctions against bishops who cover up for pedophile priests seems glacial.

So when news arrived last week that Pope Francis has approved the creation of a church tribunal to do just that, embracing the recommendations of a papal commission led by Boston’s archbishop, Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, you could imagine a Greek chorus of abuse victims responding: “It’s about time.’’

Had the tribunal been in place back in 2002, when the clergy sexual abuse crisis exploded in Boston and quickly spread around the globe, there is little doubt who would have been the first bishop hauled before the panel.

That would be Bernard Francis Law, one of O’Malley’s predecessors who resigned in disgrace in late 2002 and continues to live in gilded retirement Rome where he is regarded — if not quite a pariah — as an embarrassment, an archbishop whose silence, even after he knew kids were being assaulted, was beyond indefensible.

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UNITED STATES
Voice of the Faithful

BOSTON, Mass., June 15, 2015 – The Roman Catholic Church reform movement Voice of the Faithful hopes the resignation today of St. Paul-Minneapolis Archbishop John Nienstedt signals the Church is continuing to turn the corner on holding bishops accountable for covering up clergy sexual abuse.

His resignation comes just 10 days after St. Paul-Minneapolis prosecutors brought criminal charges against the archdiocese for failing to protect children; five days after Pope Francis set up a Vatican tribunal to judge allegations against bishops involved in the clergy sexual abuse; less than two months after the resignation of Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Missouri, who was convicted of covering up abuse; and the same day the Vatican announced former papal nuncio Jozef Wesolowski would stand trial at the Vatican for sexual abuse of children.

Pope Francis already has accepted Nienstedt’s resignation and the resignation of Auxiliary Bishop Lee Piche and appointed another archbishop there to administer the diocese.

VOTF has long called for accountability for bishops who have covered up abuse, and for Nienstedt in particular, given longstanding revelations of his mishandling local clergy sexual abuse.

We only wish Nienstedt would have admitted his wrongdoing instead of standing by his previous actions, but his resignation no doubt is for the good of the Church and the faithful of his diocese, which he said in his statement was the reason for his resignation.

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NEW YORK
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on a proposed abuse bill in New York State:

Every year New York Assemblywoman Margaret Markey introduces her bill lifting the statute of limitations on childhood sexual abuse, and every year she loses. The word is out: she’s a phony. Her bills almost always give public school employees a pass (the doctrine of sovereign immunity means that public school victims have only 90 days to press charges). Her latest attempt—it is her seventh—is also a loser. Unlike previous years, this bill is being introduced at the end of the legislative year. Why? It’s rooted in vindictiveness.

Markey’s bill is her latest gift to the Catholic community: She is unhappy that an education tax credit bill, which is supported by most Catholics, Orthodox Jews, and minorities, might pass. It provides a tax credit that makes it easier for families, especially poor ones, to send their children to private or parochial schools. The enemies of the indigent, which include the teachers’ unions, want to deny the poor the same options that the affluent have. Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie is leading the campaign to deny school choice to poor Latinos and African Americans.

Catholic bashers have branded the Catholic community’s opposition to Markey’s bill as insensitive. It’s a lie. In 2009, after Markey took a beating in the press (led by the Catholic League) for not including public schools in her bill, she broke precedent and actually came clean. But her bill, which applied to both the public and private sectors, was knocked down because the public school establishment went insane. Yet no one called it insensitive.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Jon Collins Jun 16, 2015

Following a long extradition fight, a Catholic priest from India was sentenced in Roseau County District Court Monday for criminal sexual conduct with a 16-year-old girl a decade ago.

Joseph Jeyapaul, 60, was sentenced to one year and one day in prison for the 2005 incident where

The sentence counts as time served because he had already been held in custody for 1,187 days, according to the county attorney’s office. Jeyapaul pleaded guilty to the fourth-degree sexual conduct charges last month.

Jeyapaul is being processed through the prison system and will be transferred to the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for deportation to India, according to prosecutor Heidi

Earlier charges of sexual misconduct with a different girl in 2004 and 2005 were dismissed, Davies said.

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MINNESOTA
Fox 9

[with video]

by Iris Perez

ST. PAUL, Minn. (KMSP) –
To St. Thomas Canon Law professor Charles Reid, John Nienstedt’s resignation is further proof that the embattled archbishop’s continued position was unsustainable.

“We have the arch dios in bankruptcy, we have the criminal charges that have been brought against the archdiocese, we have the creation of a panel a tribunal in Rome to investigate cases of cover ups by bishops,” Reid listed.

Resigning from the archbishop seat does not leave him without privilege however, but the question remains: Was stepping down a calculated move to keep from being defrocked?

“As an administrator, as an archbishop, he’s done completely. As someone who can still say mass, as someone who can act as a priest, perform confirmations, he can still do that,” Reid said.

What’s next for Nienstedt could be up for negotiation.

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UNITED STATES
The Dallas Morning News

Rudolph Bush

Only a week has passed since Pope Francis declared a new tribunal to review cases of bishops who shielded pedophile priests and shuffled them around parishes to protect them from discovery.

And just two weeks have passed since prosecutors in St. Paul, Minn. accused the Catholic Archdiocese there of “willfully ignoring signs of a pedophile priest,” according to a story in the New York Times.

In a signal that the Vatican is at last catching up to the concerns of the faithful, both Archbishop John Nienstedt and Lee Piche, an auxiliary bishop, resigned in St. Paul yesterday.

Nienstedt suggested the decision was his own. The facts, and his longtime reticence to resign, suggest otherwise.

“In order to give the Archdiocese a new beginning amidst the many challenges we face, I have submitted my resignation as Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis to our Holy Father, Pope Francis, and I have just received word that he has accepted it,” Nienstedt wrote.

He added that he leaves the church with a clear conscience.

It will be up to prosecutors to show whether that clear conscience is warranted.

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FRANCE
Tamil Guardian

French authorities have arrested a Rwandan priest on suspicion of committing crimes against humanity during the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

The 61 year old man was arrested in Trappes, northern France, executing an international arrest warrant issued by Rwanda’s prosecutor.

It is claimed the individual, an ethnic Hutu, was involved in the killing of up to 1,000 university students after pointing them out to men armed with machetes. He is also accused of personally interrogating and tracking down ethnic Tutsis.

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UNITED STATES
CNN

Becky Ianni, Clergy Abuse Survivor and SNAP Director chats with Brianna Keilar about the Vatican’s historic decision to hold a criminal child abuse trial.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Kieran Tapsell | Jun. 16, 2015 Examining the Crisis

Cardinal Desmond Connell, the former archbishop of Dublin, told the Murphy commission in Ireland that mental reservation was deceiving someone without telling a lie. He said it is permissible to use “an ambiguous expression realising that the person who you are talking to will accept an untrue version of whatever it may be.”

There is an exquisite piece of mental reservation in a recent announcement from the Vatican. According to Vatican Radio, “The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors presented a five point plan to the Pope and his closest advisors at this week’s meeting, including the establishment of a ‘new judicial section’ to examine all cases of bishops accused of abusing their office and failing to report crimes committed by priests in their care.”

The ambiguous expression in this case is “failing to report crimes” because it does not say to whom the bishops should have reported. Nearly everyone would understand the expression to mean reporting to the police. That is not what the Vatican means. It means reporting to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in every case and only sometimes to the police.

As the Holy See told the Irish foreign minister in 2011, bishops are the governors of their own diocese, and so far as the church is concerned, the only restraint on them is canon law. Bishops can only be put on trial before this new tribunal for breaching canon law. A bishop who fails to report credible allegations of child sexual abuse by clergy to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is in breach of canon law because that obligation is set out in the decree Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela.

Likewise, canon law in the United States since 2002, and for the rest of the world since 2010, requires bishops to comply with domestic civil reporting laws. A failure to do so constitutes a breach of canon law. The recently resigned bishops — Archbishop John Nienstedt and Auxiliary Bishop Lee Piché of St. Paul-Minneapolis and Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., who was convicted by a Missouri court of failing to report a priest’s possession of child pornography — could be brought before the new tribunal for failing to comply with civil laws on reporting as required by the norms approved in December 2002 by the Holy See for the United States.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Elizabeth Mohr and Sarah Horner
Pioneer Press

The walls were closing in on the archdiocese.

Child sexual abuse lawsuits. An investigation into the archbishop. Bankruptcy. Criminal charges. And now a Vatican tribunal to punish bishops who covered up abuses.

On Monday, two top officials of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis stepped down.

Archbishop John Nienstedt and Auxiliary Bishop Lee Anthony Piché said they are resigning, a rare occurrence within the Catholic hierarchy.

The announcement came 10 days after the Ramsey County attorney’s office filed a 43-page criminal complaint, detailing the alleged roles of church officials – including Nienstedt, 68, and Piché, 57 – in protecting a predatory priest.

In a statement, Nienstedt said: “In order to give the archdiocese a new beginning amidst the many challenges we face, I have submitted my resignation. My leadership has unfortunately drawn attention away from the good works of (Christ’s) Church and those who perform them. Thus, my decision to step down.”

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MINNESOTA
MinnPost

By Tim Gihring

The letters began arriving shortly before John Nienstedt was appointed archbishop in 2008: clean up or be shut down. It was the least that his predecessor, Archbishop Harry Flynn, could do: play the good cop; warn the rebellious parishes in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis before the bad cop arrived.

Nienstedt seemed to relish the bad-cop role. He wore a fedora, like a G-man. Through his Rumsfeldian, half-frame glasses, he saw sin everywhere, and he revamped the Catholic Spirit, a once-freethinking archdiocesan newspaper, as a pulpit to rail against it.

And he did indeed drive some of the most accommodating members among his flock of 750,000 into hiding, banning lay people from addressing the faithful during Mass, calling out priests who welcomed openly gay worshippers as abetting “a grave evil,” and quickly shutting down services like the one at St. Stephen’s Catholic Church, in Minneapolis, where women often led the liturgy — without so much as a hello.

“You’re a controversial figure,” a woman told him back in 2008, at a St. Paul gathering of the National Council of Catholic Women. “I am?” he joked. “I tend to be straightforward — perhaps that puts people off.”

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POLAND
The News

The Vatican has confirmed that its former envoy to the Dominican Republic is due to stand trial in July, charged with sexually abusing minors and the possession of child pornography.

Former archbishop and papal nuncio to the Dominican Republic Józef Wesołowski was defrocked in June 2014, having intially been recalled from his post in the Caribbean in August 2013.

According to a statement released by the Tribunal of Vatican City State, Wesolowski’s first hearing will be on 11 July.

The tribunal has noted that the child abuse allegations, which concern Wesołowski’s tenure as nuncio in the Dominican Republic between January 2008 and August 2013, are “based on evidence transmitted by the judicial authorities of Santo Domingo.”

The possession of child pornography charge relates to material allegedly found in Wesołowski’s lodgings following his return to Rome

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NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

By Mark Mueller | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on June 16, 2015

Two years ago, in what was widely seen as a move to steady the leadership in the controversy-ridden Archdiocese of Newark, Pope Francis tapped a little known but well regarded bishop, Bernard Hebda, to serve as Archbishop John J. Myers’ top assistant and eventual successor.

Now, with Hebda chosen to stabilize a far more troubled diocese in Minnesota, the question is when he will return to Newark full-time, if at all.

The pope on Monday named Hebda, 55, interim leader of the Archdiocese of Minneapolis and St. Paul, which was criminally charged last week for what a prosecutor described as a systemic failure to protect children from a sexually abusive priest.

Hebda replaces Archbishop John Nienstedt, who resigned Monday morning with his top assistant, Auxiliary Bishop Lee Piche.

In a statement, Hebda said he will remain Newark’s co-adjutor archbishop, the official term for a bishop-in-waiting, and he stressed that his role in Minnesota would be temporary. In addition, Jim Goodness, a spokesman for Myers, said he expects no change in Hebda’s future assignment as leader of the Newark Archdiocese.

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MINNESOTA
John Thavis

The resignation of Archbishop John Nienstedt in St. Paul-Minneapolis came after nearly two years of patience at the Vatican, which generally prefers a bishop to put his diocese in order rather than be yanked from office. Despite Nienstedt’s efforts to make some changes, it was clear that the problems were not going away.

Filing for bankruptcy four months ago was bad, but worse came 10 days ago, when a local prosecutor announced he would bring charges against the archdiocese for failing to protect children. That meant the drumbeat of bad news would continue for the foreseeable future.

On Minnesota Public Radio this morning, I took a long look at the implications of the resignation and possible future steps. I’ve been a member of the St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese for a couple of years now, and I think many Catholics here recognize that Archbishop Nienstedt’s departure will not solve all the problems.

I’m glad the pope did not immediately name the archbishop’s successor. I hope it is a sign that the Vatican is going to take the time to carefully evaluate the needs of the archdiocese. I see two key priorities. First, the Vatican should involve lay Catholics in the selection process. In practice, that can range from listening sessions in local parishes to canvassing for local candidates. We should move beyond the point where Rome’s choices simply parachute in to dioceses, with no connection to their new flock.

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VATICAN
NZZ (Schweiz]

(ap) Der Vatikan hat nach dem Pädophilie-Urteil gegen einen Priester die Rücktrittsgesuche zweier amerikanischer Bischöfe angenommen. Der Erzbischof von St. Paul im Gliedstaat Minnesota, John Nienstedt, und dessen Weihbischof Lee Anthony Piché hätten von der Kirchenrechtsbestimmung Gebrauch gemacht, den Papst wegen Krankheit oder einem anderen ernsten Grund um ihre Entlassung zu bitten, teilte der Vatikan mit. Papst Franziskus habe zugestimmt und den Erzbischof von Newark, Bernard Hebda, zum Bischofsverwalter ernannt.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Evangelisch

[Jesuit Father Mertes: Church must consistently educate about abuse.]

Der Skandal um den Missbrauch an Kindern und Jugendlichen durch Priester hat das Vertrauen in die katholische Kirche erschüttert. Wer Prävention betreiben will, muss die Fälle zuvor aufklären, heißt es auf einer Fachtagung.

Der Jesuitenpater Klaus Mertes hat die katholische Kirche aufgefordert, Fälle von sexuellem Missbrauch in den eigenen Reihen weiter konsequent aufzuklären. “Prävention setzt voraus, dass aufgeklärt wurde”, sagte er am Montag bei einer Fachtagung zu sexualisierter Gewalt in der katholischen Kirche in Hannover. “Erst die Aufklärung deckt Fehler auf.” Wenn hier nicht weitergearbeitet werde, verliere die Prävention ihre Glaubwürdigkeit.

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DEUTSCHLAND
SWR

[The Weisenauer Pastor Christian Nagel has apologized during a church service on Saturday night for the sexual assaults in a Mainz Catholic daycare center.]

Der Weisenauer Pfarrer Christian Nagel hat sich während eines Gottesdienstes am Samstagabend für die sexuellen Übergriffe in einer Mainzer Kita entschuldigt. Gleichzeitig kündigte er Aufklärung an.
Blick auf die geschlossene Katholische Kindertagesstätte Maria Königin, aufgenommen am.

Gleich zu Beginn des Wochenend-Gottesdienstes der Katholischen Gemeinde Mariä Himmelfahrt lenkte Nagel auf das Geschehen in der kirchlichen Kita. “Ich bitte alle betroffenen Kinder, die an Leib und Seele verletzt wurden, um Entschuldigung”, so Nagel.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Bucks Free Press

by Andy Carswell, Senior reporter

A former church elder who groomed and sexually abused two young children – before going on to download the most extreme type of indecent photos nearly 40 years later – has been jailed for four and a half years.

Alan Baker “put a stain on the development” of the two children whose lives he “blighted” during the 1970s and 80s, an Amersham Crown Court judge said as he was imprisoned today.

Now aged 78, Baker abused a position of trust as an elder at a church in Wooburn Green to “engineer” meetings with the two children, the court heard.

When his home in Altona Road, Loudwater, was searched by police in 2014 several indecent images of the most severe category were found.

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NEW YORK
Capital New York

ALBANY—As discussion swirls about an education tax credit that will benefit private and parochial schools, the Assembly is advancing a bill—long opposed by the state’s Roman Catholic bishops—that makes it easier to sue for childhood sexual abuse.

The bill, sponsored by Assemblywoman Margaret Markey, a Queens Democrat, would create a one-year window during which people sexually abused before their 18th birthday could bring suit against their alleged abusers—including private institutions like summer camps and church organizations. The window does not apply to public school institutions. The state’s Catholic Conference opposes the bill, which could open the church to a flurry of lawsuits and drain its coffers for legal defense, settlements or awards.

A spokesman for the Catholic Conference, Dennis Poust, questioned why the bill suddenly re-emerged during the final week of the legislative session. He said it seemed to be retaliation for an aggressive lobbying campaign on behalf of the tax credit, which has sent over a dozen mailers into the districts of some Democratic Assembly members.

“This is a bill that has not moved in the Assembly in years, due to the fact that it selectively targets private institutions while giving publics a pass,” Poust said. “The timing, given our strong advocacy in favor of the education tax credit and the calling out of Assembly majority members, certainly gives the impression of political payback, which is really quite chilling.”

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ROME
GlobalPost

Jason Berry
Valeria Fraschetti

Jun 15, 2015

ROME — An hour before L’espresso magazine leaked an Italian-language PDF of Pope Francis’s long-awaited encyclical on ecology, Massimo Faggioli was unwinding over orange juice in a café near St. Peter’s Square after a day’s research in the Vatican Archives.

The Italian-born Faggioli, a theology professor at St. Thomas University in Minneapolis, reflected on the drumbeat of opinion over a pope weighing in on climate change.

“American Catholic conservatives have already dismissed the letter because of Cardinal [Peter] Turkson’s role in the drafting process,” said Faggioli.

“An African cardinal in charge of drafting a document for a Latin American pope is too much for some of these people.”

A few minutes later, Faggioli checked his iPhone and saw that the conservative Vatican correspondent Sandro Magister had posted the entire encyclical, Laudato Si: On the Care of Our Common Home, on L’espresso — three days before its scheduled release at noon Thursday.

“I believe this was leaked to Magister by one of the enemies to embarrass the pope and deflate the hyped launch,” Robert Mickens, Vatican correspondent for the Jesuit-edited news magazine Global Pulse, said in a tweet.

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VIRGINIA
NBC 29

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va (WVIR) – The child sex abuse case against a former Charlottesville youth pastor is moving forward.

A grand jury indicted 34-year-old Jacob Daniel Kepple of Scottsville Monday.

He is charged with indecent liberties with a child.

Kepple worked as a youth pastor at First Baptist Church on Park Street.

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NEW YORK
New York Post

By Kirstan Conley and Carl Campanile

Assembly Democrats, under pressure from the Catholic Church to pass a tax break to help parochial schools, on Monday revived a bill that would allow lawsuits involving decades-old claims of sexual abuse by priests.

“This is a retaliatory strike against the church,” Dennis Poust, spokesman for the New York State Catholic Conference, told The Post.

“We haven’t heard a whisper about this bill in six years .

“If this bill becomes law, it will have catastrophic consequences for the church — and they know it,” Poust added.

The legislation, sponsored by Assemblywoman Margaret Markey (D-Queens), would wipe out a law giving accusers up to five years to file suit once they reach 18. But after that period, lawsuits are barred.

The new law would allow anyone to sue going back decades for one year after the measure is enacted.

The Democratic-controlled Assembly hasn’t seriously debated the sex- abuse issue since 2008, Poust said. But the dormant proposal was amended on Sunday and put before the Assembly Codes Committee on Monday, when the Legislature was considering a flurry of bills before breaking for summer recess.

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MINNESOTA
National Catholic Reporter

Brian Roewe | Jun. 15, 2015

A prudent move. A painful process. An important step. A tiny step.

A broad cross-section of reactions met the news Monday of the resignations of St. Paul-Minneapolis Archbishop John Nienstedt and Auxiliary Bishop Lee Piché.

“I think it was a necessary move and a prudent one,” said Jennifer Haselberger, the former canonical chancellor whose decision to resign the position and speak out publicly on observed mishandling of clergy sexual abuse accusations largely set off the scandal that has settled on the region since fall 2013.

The announcements came the same day as the start of the biannual presbyteral assembly, which gathers the archdiocese’s nearly 400 priests for meetings through Thursday in Rochester, southeast of the Twin Cities. A priest who spoke on background said he detected among his fellow priests a sense of relief with the news, that they understood the gravity of the situation but also saw a path forward toward healing in the region.

In a letter to the priests, Nienstedt wrote of his resignation, “I would have preferred to share this with you in person, but the desire of the Holy See to announce this made it impossible to wait.” …

In a statement to media, Ramsey County prosecutor John Choi said while many in the community may view the resignations as a positive development, the six criminal charges, the civil petition and ongoing investigation will proceed.

“As we have said, the goals of our actions are to hold the Archdiocese accountable, seek justice for the victims and our community, and to take appropriate steps to ensure that what we have alleged and intend to prove about the past conduct of church officials will never be repeated,” Choi said. “Today’s resignations do not directly accomplish those goals, but I believe that it is an affirmative step toward a new beginning and much needed reconciliation.”

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Tom Scheck, Jon Collins

Jun 15, 2015

The man who will serve as a temporary caretaker for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is an Ivy League-educated attorney with working-class Rust Belt roots — and a high-profile archdiocese job in his sights.

He’s known in his New Jersey diocese for eschewing a fancy residence where he could live by himself and instead choosing to live in a dormitory suite alongside other priests.

Pope Francis appointed Archbishop Bernard Hebda, who has served since 2013 as coadjutor bishop in the Archdiocese of Newark, N.J., as apostolic administrator of the Twin Cities archdiocese.

The Vatican announced Monday that the pope accepted the resignations of Archbishop John Nienstedt and Auxiliary Bishop Lee Piche, only 10 days after prosecutors filed criminal charges against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis for its “role in failing to protect children and contribution to the unspeakable harm” done to three sexual abuse victims of a former priest.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

The resignation of Archbishop John Nienstedt could boost donations to the Catholic Church in the Twin Cities, where many parishioners have grown frustrated by his handling of allegations of sexual abuse by priests.

Nienstedt resigned Monday following two years of damaging revelations about the failure of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to protect children from sexual abuse by priests.

The archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in January, contending that it likely would be unable to afford potentially huge financial judgments that could be awarded to victims of clergy sex abuse. The judge overseeing the church’s reorganization quickly ordered all parties into mediation, hoping to achieve a faster fix for the archdiocese’s finances and compensation for abuse victims.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Hal Davis
Pioneer Press
POSTED: 06/15/2015

Key players in the resignations of John Nienstedt and Lee Anthony Piche:

JOHN NIENSTEDT

Archbishop of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

“In order to give the archdiocese a new beginning amidst the many challenges we face, I have submitted my resignation,” he said Monday. “I leave with a clear conscience knowing that my team and I have put in place solid protocols to ensure the protection of minors and vulnerable adults.”

LEE ANTHONY PICHE

Auxiliary bishop who was tasked last year with investigating allegations of sexual misconduct against Nienstedt from July that he had inappropriate sexual conduct with adult priests, seminarians and other men. No results have been reported.

Piche had previously taken over Nienstedt’s public duties after the archbishop removed himself from ministry in December 2013 as an investigation led by Choi examined an allegation that Nienstedt inappropriately touched a boy during a 2009 confirmation photo. The archbishop returned to full-time duty in March 2014 after that investigation found no evidence against him.

In 2010, a fellow priest told Piche that he had found Wehmeyer in bed with a boy during a camping trip the previous month. In a later interview with police, Piche said he didn’t remember the priest’s report.

JENNIFER HASELBERGER

Former chancellor of canonical affairs. Resigned in April 2013.

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“I’ve raised the point time and time again that the leadership has to change,” she told Minnesota Public Radio. “It’s pretty much same old, same old.”

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NEW JERSEY
The Record

Editorial

ON MONDAY, shock waves in Minnesota were felt in Newark. Archbishop John Nienstedt resigned as head of the St. Paul and Minneapolis Archdiocese amid a clergy sex scandal, and Newark Coadjutor Archbishop Bernard Hebda was named apostolic administrator, a temporary replacement. How temporary is unknown.

Hebda has been seen as the heir apparent to Newark Archbishop John Myers, who will reach the mandatory retirement age of 75 next year. Myers has been touched by scandal as well. His handling of the Rev. Michael Fugee has been heavily criticized not just by critics of the Catholic Church, but by Bergen County prosecutors, who had allowed Fugee to avoid criminal prosecution by entering into an agreement to have no contact with minors. The archdiocese did not properly monitor Fugee, and he violated that agreement. Fugee is no longer a priest.

Additionally, Myers has refused to give up plans to move into his more-than-7,000-square-foot, newly expanded retirement mansion, flouting Pope Francis’ call for bishops to live modestly. Monday’s announcement raises more questions than provides answers for New Jersey Catholics.

The situation in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is dire. Prosecutors have taken the unprecedented step of criminally charging the archdiocese for allowing a predator priest to prey on children. Not only Nienstedt, but one of his auxiliary bishops, Lee Anthony Piche, resigned Monday. Piche was the bishop responsible for investigating how the archdiocese handled cases of sexual abuse.

These joint resignations, as well as the Vatican’s announcement that it is putting its former ambassador to the Dominican Republic, Jozef Wesolowski, on trial in a Vatican court for allegedly sexually abusing boys, is more proof that this pope has begun cleaning the church’s stairs from the top down. Taken in conjunction with the recent announcement of a Vatican tribunal to review how bishops handle allegations of sexual abuse by priests, it is clear the pope wants to move the church past more than a decade of sex scandals that have robbed it of its moral authority and are draining its financial resources in payouts to victims.

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UNITED STATES
WBUR

Tue, Jun 16, 2015
by Rich Barlow

Might some Friends of Francis appear before the pope’s just-created tribunal to investigate bishops charged with shielding pedophile priests? Lovers of soap opera can only hope. As for us Catholics, the fact that the queue of defendants could look as crowded as the Republican presidential debate stage is painful, but the tribunal is overdue.

The pope who famously asked “who am I to judge” about gays is poised to judge accused concealers of crime. Good for him. Meanwhile, the aggregated response of abuse survivors and their advocates to the papal announcement has been a measured two cheers. They welcome the idea but, wisely, are withholding final assessment until they see how the panel works in practice.

he aggregated response of abuse survivors and their advocates to the papal announcement has been a measured two cheers.

Victims should be the go-to sources on this. They suffered the crimes and have been the most relentless voices for reform in the church. The tribunal is a longstanding demand of theirs, as episcopal enablers helped perpetuate the pedophile scandal but largely have escaped punishment. Peter Saunders, an abuse survivor advising Francis, termed the papal creation “a positive step.”

At the same time, he told The New York Times, “When allegations against senior clergy are brought to the tribunal, we’ll see whether it’s working.” The president of Boston-based BishopAccountability.org was cheered by the news, but his counterpart at Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests was underwhelmed, seeing the tribunal as Roman-collared foxes guarding the hen house. Better, she argued, for the Vatican to lobby for more robust secular prosecution of guilty bishops. For its part, the Vatican insisted that the tribunal would not take the place of law enforcement but would add ecclesiastical penalties.

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MINNESOTA
Independent

June 15, 2015
Associated Press

A man who says he was sexually abused by a Minnesota priest decades ago is welcoming the resignation of St. Paul-Minneapolis Archbishop John Nienstedt.

Al Michaud (mih-SHAWD’) sued the archdiocese in the 1980s, long before Nienstedt led the archdiocese, and eventually settled.

The 54-year-old Michaud called Nienstedt’s resignation a “huge step” but says more needs to happen.

Niendstedt resigned Monday, 10 days after Minnesota prosecutors filed criminal charges accusing the archdiocese of failing to protect children.

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MINNESOTA
Independent

June 15, 2015
Associated Press

The whistleblower who accused Catholic leaders in Minnesota of mishandling clergy abuse cases says Archbishop John Nienstedt’s resignation was “a necessary and prudent step.”

Jennifer Haselberger was an archdiocese lawyer when she came forward in 2013 to accuse Nienstedt and others of doing too little to rein in problem priests. Nienstedt resigned Monday, 10 days after a prosecutor filed criminal charges that accuse the archdiocese as a corporation of failing to protect children.

Haselberger says those charges and the civil petition prosecutors also filed made it impossible for Nienstedt or another bishop, Lee Piche (pih-SHAY’), to stay in their jobs.

She says any support the two might have had to stay would have disappeared from anyone who read the criminal complaint.

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CANADA
CBC News

By Greg Rasmussen, CBC News

The Anglican Church of Canada expressed regret on Monday for the “immoral sexual behaviour” of one of its priests and apologized for not publicly disclosing a confession made two decades ago by the B.C.-based priest, who admitted to sexually abusing parishioners.

Gordon Nakayama’s case was never reported to the police, but his story was the inspiration for The Rain Ascends, a novel by well-known Canadian author Joy Kogawa who is also the priest’s daughter.

The former priest ministered to the Japanese-Canadian community in B.C. and Alberta. During the Second World War, he followed his Japanese-Canadian parishioners from Vancouver to their internment camps.

There were rumours he had abused young men and boys, and decades later he admitted it in writing to church officials.

“I made mistake. My moral life with my sexual bad behaviour. I sincerely sorry what I did to so many people,” he said in his confession to the church in 1994.

Instead of reporting his admission of a crime to the police, the church locked away this painful secret because, it says, the community preferred that at the time.

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UNITED STATES
Sticking the Corners

How to Idiot Proof Your Parish and Diocese Against the Sexual Abuse Crisis

June 15, 2015 by Jennifer Fitz

The idiots in question are ordinary people like yourself, busy, overwhelmed with responsibilities, always trying to figure out which situations are the most desperate and which are okay enough to leave be for the moment. Elizabeth Scalia and others report on the latest round of resigning bishops, and here’s the thing you need to understand: That diocese is just like yours, and by that I mean it is filled with people like you.

–> In the unlikely event that you’re one of those people who has it completely together, and never ever makes a bad judgment call, never ever drops the ball, never ever says, “But I didn’t think that would happen!” believe you me, the rest of the slouches in your parish, ministry, or organization are complete idiots. That’s just how it is. What this means is that in order to keep our children safe from sexual abuse, we have to idiot-proof our work.

Fortunately, it’s doable. Here are the basics:

1. Learn to dial 911.

In reading the harrowing account of how a serial abuser was left in office for years, one fact stands out: Bunches of people knew the abuse was going on, and not a single one called the police. Not one.

You don’t need permission to pick up the telephone.

It doesn’t matter what your boss says. It doesn’t matter what your job description is, or that you haven’t got one. The police are so easy to contact even a kindergartner can do it, and that means you can, too. If you suspect a crime is taking place, pick up the phone and call the police. You can talk to the competent church authorities after.

To put your mind at ease:

You can talk to an officer at your local police station and describe the situation first before naming the perpetrator, if you are unsure whether a crime is actually taking place.

The police have the job of conducting investigations and sorting out guilt from innocence, not you. Your parish priest knows an awful lot of stuff, but he’s probably not a cop specializing in investigating this type of crime. Pull in the pro’s ASAP, and let them help your parish figure out if there’s really a problem or not.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

JUNE 15, 2015

key questions

Why did the archbishop resign?

Nienstedt said his leadership has become distracting; he also may have faced pressure from the Vatican. The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is facing charges that church officials failed to protect children from abusive priests.

Does this change the court action?

No. The Ramsey County civil and criminal cases will continue. The next appearance is scheduled for July 17.

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CANADA
Vancouver Sun

By Gordon Hoekstra, Vancouver Sun June 15, 2015

The much-anticipated defamation trial between freelance journalist Laura Robinson and former 2010 Vancouver Olympics CEO John Furlong is shaping up to be fought over whether Robinson carried out her job to acceptable journalistic standards.

Robinson, slated to testify today, is suing Furlong for damaging her reputation in statements he made in 2012 and 2013, at a news conference, in interviews and in statements written to rebut an article she wrote in the Georgia Straight three years ago.

Earlier, Furlong dropped his defamation suit against Robinson over her article, which said Furlong had verbally and physically abused aboriginal students in the ’70s at a Catholic elementary school in Burns Lake in north-central B.C. It also detailed omissions on when he moved to Canada in his biographical 2011 book, Patriot Hearts.

Furlong, who attended court Monday, has said the allegations from the former students are not true.

The opening day of testimony Monday hinged on how Robinson carried out her job, with her lawyer Bryan Baynham introducing a report from former Ryerson University head of journalism John Miller that concluded she did her investigative job to acceptable standards.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Associated Press JUNE 15, 2015

ROSEAU, Minn. — A Catholic priest who pleaded guilty last month to criminal sexual misconduct has been essentially sentenced to time served.

The Rev. Joseph Jeyapaul was sentenced Monday to a year and a day in prison in connection with the 2005 abuse of a teenage girl. But he’s been in custody since March 2012, and was given credit for time served. He now faces deportation to India.

As part of the plea deal, charges that he raped another girl from 2004 to 2005 are dismissed.

Jeyapaul came to Minnesota in 2004 and served at Blessed Sacrament Church in Greenbush. He returned to India in 2005 and was brought back to Minnesota last year to face charges.

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MINNESOTA
KARE

[with video]

Allen Costantini, KARE

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Pope Francis turned to a Vatican veteran to take the temporary reins of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. The Pope formally accepted the resignation of Archbishop John Nienstedt on Monday.

The Most Reverend Bernard Hebda, 55, is currently the Coadjutor Archbishop of the Newark, New Jersey Archdiocese. Hebda will become Archbishop when the current Archbishop of that diocese retires in 2016 or dies.

Now, Hebda is also the Apostolic Administrator of Minnesota’s largest diocese until an Archbishop can be appointed. Hebda promised in a statement to “be as available as possible” locally while still performing his duties back East.

“He is very well connected,” said Dennis Coday, National Catholic Reporter Editor. “He spent 13 years working at the Vatican. His expertise is Canon law. So, what he is going to bring is kind of a pastoral approach, but very much steeped into the rules and regulations that run the Church.”

Hebda was born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. He was ordained a priest in 1989 and served at the Vatican in Rome from 1996-2009. He was appointed as Bishop of Gaylord, Michigan from 2009-2013.

Coday said his experts at the independent newspaper called Hebda “brilliant, generous, gentle and pious,” when he was appointed to the New Jersey position in 2013.

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MINNESOTA
CBS Minnesota

Bill Hudson

ST. PAUL (WCCO) — Archbishop John Nienstedt has been on the forefront of the clergy sex abuse scandal rocking the Roman Catholic Church for the better part of 30 years.

“This is a beginning of a reckoning,” St. Paul attorney Jeff Anderson said.

From his St. Paul law offices, flanked by two men who survived priest sex abuse, Anderson called it a global crisis that is finally beginning to change.

He called Monday’s resignations of the Nienstedt and Auxiliary Bishop Lee Anthony Piche as a sign from Rome that the Vatican is ready to start moving forward and repair past wrongs.

“The resignations forced under pressure and accepted by the Vatican demonstrate an incremental realization that they have to do something,” Anderson said.

The lawyer is representing Al Michaud and Jim Keenan, both of whom were abused by their priests as young boys.

Michaud admits the resignations caught him totally by surprise.

“I got the blip on my phone and went, wow, that’s huge,” he said.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Editorial

Archbishop John Nienstedt stepped down as head of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis on Monday because, he said in a statement, “my leadership has unfortunately drawn attention away from the good works of His Church and those who perform them.”

The relief that washed over many Minnesotans — Roman Catholics and the rest — with Monday’s news that Archbishop John Nienstedt has resigned should not be mistaken for a sense that all is now well within the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Rather, for some time, Nienstedt’s departure has been widely seen as a sad necessity. The Star Tribune Editorial Board has called it a requisite first step in a long effort to restore the reputation of the region’s largest religious organization — a reputation sullied by child molestation and an alleged coverup so widespread that both criminal charges and a civil case were filed against the entire archdiocese in Ramsey County District Court on June 5.

Fairly or not, the 68-year-old Nienstedt became the face of those charges — a fact that, to his credit, he seemed to acknowledge in a statement announcing his resignation early Monday. He was stepping aside, he said, “to give the Archdiocese a new beginning amidst the many challenges we face.” Exiting with him is Auxiliary Bishop Lee Piché, whose resignation statement said “the people of the archdiocese … need healing and hope. I was getting in the way of that, so I had to resign.”

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

By Jenna Ross Star Tribune JUNE 15, 2015

Even before the sex abuse scandal made him one of the most embattled figures in the Catholic church, Archbishop John Nienstedt’s tenure was turbulent.

His pricey fight against same-sex marriage had backfired. His unyielding style had riled some priests. And while some parishioners praised his conservative stances, for many he became a polarizing figure among local Catholics.

“He was a warrior bishop waging a cultural war,” said Charles Reid, a professor of canon and civil law at the University of St. Thomas.

Unease about Nienstedt’s leadership arose before he even moved into the Chancery in St. Paul. As bishop in New Ulm, he became known for his strict adherence to orthodox doctrine — denouncing his predecessor’s call for dialogue on opening the priesthood to women; rebuking a priest in St. Peter for worshiping with Lutherans after a 1998 tornado destroyed the town’s Catholic church; and urging legislators to support a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman.

Those moves mirrored the attitude of the Vatican under Pope Benedict, who picked Nienstedt as the new archbishop in 2007. But many priests and parishioners in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, with its long history of being “moderately progressive,” greeted his arrival with trepidation, Reid said.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

By James Walsh Star Tribune JUNE 15, 2015

Shortly after delivering a homily about turning the other cheek, the Rev. Jim Schoenberger asked the 50 souls who had gathered Monday for noon mass at the Church of the Assumption to say a prayer for Archbishop John Nienstedt and Auxiliary Bishop Lee Anthony Piché.

Hours earlier, the two Catholic Church leaders had resigned in the wake of the archdiocese’s oversight of sexually abusive clergy members. For some sitting in the pews of St. Paul’s oldest church, that news came as a shock. For others, the announcement came much too late. Several, in fact, said they had lost confidence in Nienstedt’s leadership long ago.

“It is a sad day, but it’s sad that things happened like that, that people had to suffer here,” said Ray Kieser, a member of the parish, located downtown, for 20 years. “It is going to take a new person to come in here and do what they can to repair it.”

Another parishioner, an 83-year-old woman who asked not to be named, said she was “dumbfounded” by the news but “I am glad he resigned. I think he was covering up for people doing terrible things.”

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UNITED STATES
MSNBC

By Emma Margolin

Twin announcements from the Vatican on Monday showcased a surge of activity surrounding what Pope Francis once labeled a “scourge” of sexual abuse against minors, a scandal that has plagued the Catholic Church for decades. But survivors’ advocates, as well as one prominent Catholic conservative group, fear political motivations lie behind these latest actions.

Jozef Wesolowski, a defrocked archbishop and the Vatican’s former ambassador to the Dominican Republic, will stand trial next month on charges stemming from child sex assault, the Holy See said Monday. It marks the first Vatican-held criminal trial for sexual abuse.

The Vatican also announced on Monday that Pope Francis had accepted the resignations of two high-ranking Minnesota clerics facing criminal charges for mishandling complaints of sexual misconduct against a priest. John C. Nienstedt, the archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis, said in a statement Monday that he was resigning along with Auxiliary Bishop Lee Anthony Piché so as not to draw “attention away from the good works of His Church and those who perform them.”

Both announcements follow last week’s debut of a new church tribunal, which was created to investigate and potentially punish bishops engaged in covering up abuse.

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MINNESOTA
InForum

By Sarah Volpenheim / Forum News Service

A Catholic priest convicted of sexually abusing a 16-year-old Minnesota girl will walk free and be deported to India immediately.

Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul, 60, was sentenced Monday to one year and one day behind bars—time he already served while awaiting court proceedings—after taking a plea deal last month. As part of the deal, Jeyapaul pleaded guilty to 4th-degree criminal sexual conduct in Roseau County District Court.

Jeyapaul had been in custody since he was arrested in his home country of India in March 2012 to face criminal charges he sexually abused two girls while serving as a priest in the Catholic Diocese of Crookston in 2004 and 2005.

The conviction coincided with the Monday resignation of John Nienstedt, the archbishop of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, which came 10 days after criminal charges were brought against the archdiocese in connection to sexual abuse of youths by a former clergy member.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

[with audio]

Guests

John Thavis: Former Vatican bureau chief for the Catholic News Service and author of “The Vatican Diaries: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Power, Personalities and Politics at the Heart of the Catholic Church”
Madeleine Baran: MPR News reporter

Archbishop John Nienstedt resigned today as head of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. His announcement comes nearly two years into a clergy sex abuse scandal and after criminal charges against the organization for failure to protect children.

The Vatican moves very deliberately for a reason, said John Thavis, former Vatican bureau chief for the Catholic News Service on MPR News with Tom Weber:

“When problems erupt in a diocese they don’t want to be seen as yanking a guy out before he’s had a chance to resolve them,” Thavis said. “I think they gave Archbishop Nienstedt really almost two years to resolve these problems and it was clear 10 days ago when the prosecutor announced charges would be brought against the archdiocese that the problems were not resolved and in fact they would continue for some time to come.”

After Pope Francis announced a new process to evaluate and judge bishops before a Vatican tribunal for similar cases, Thavis said people suggested Nienstedt be the first to go through the process. But it became clear it could take months or years to set up the procedure.

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

By Peter Smith / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Pope Francis has named Archbishop Bernard Hebda, a Pittsburgh native, to administer a scandal-plagued Minnesota archdiocese in the wake of the resignations of its leaders.

Archbishop Hebda will serve as apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis after the departures of Archbishop John Nienstadt and Auxiliary Bishop Lee Piche, whose resignations were announced today.

The resignations came less than two weeks after state prosecutors filed criminal charges accusing the archdiocese of failing to protect children from an abusive priest now serving a five-year prison sentence for molesting two boys.

Archbishop Hebda is currently coadjutor archbishop in the Archdiocese of Newark, meaning he is second in command to Archbishop John J. Myers and designated to succeed him.

He’ll maintain that assignment while also being tasked with steadying the Minnesota archdiocese.

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MINNESOTA
KSTP

By: Jennie Lissarrague

A Catholic priest who was extradited from his native India to Minnesota has been sentenced to one year in prison Monday after pleading guilty to fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct back in May.

According to the Roseau County Attorney’s Office, Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul was originally charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct in 2006 for incidents that happened from 2004-2005 while he was a priest in Greenbush and Middle River.

Prosecutors say he assaulted a girl multiple times in 2004 and 2005, starting when she was 14. Jeyapaul was a priest at the Blessed Sacrament Church in Greenbush, near the Canadian border, at the time.

The attorney’s office says Jeyapaul fled to his native India in August 2005 and continued to serve as a priest. He was arrested in 2012 and extradited to the United States in November 2014. At that time, the additional fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct charge was filed against him for an Aug. 15, 2005, incident.

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VATICAAN
NRC (Nederland)

Het Vaticaan gaat de voormalige Poolse aartsbisschop Jozef Wesolowski vervolgen voor kindermisbruik. Wesolowski was nuntius, een diplomatieke vertegenwoordiger van de paus, in de Dominicaanse Republiek toen hij in 2013 uit zijn ambt werd gezet nadat bekend was geworden dat hij zich aan kinderen had vergrepen.

Naast zijn vergrijpen – hij zou jongetjes hebben betaald om in zijn bijzijn te masturberen – werd er ook kinderporno aangetroffen op de computer van Wesolowski. Hij werd in augustus 2013 uit zijn ambt gezet en onder huisarrest geplaatst in afwachting van de beslissing van het Vaticaan om hem te vervolgen. Het is voor het eerst dat de kerk zo’n hooggeplaatste functionaris vervolgt. Naast nuntius was Wesolowski aartsbisschop van Sléibhte. Het proces begint over een maand.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on the resignation of St. Paul and Minneapolis Archbishop John Nienstedt:

Both the New York Times and AP reported today that Archbishop Nienstedt protected a pedophile priest, Curtis Wehmeyer. But Wehmeyer is not a pedophile: as with almost all molesting priests—more than 80 percent of them—he is a homosexual.

In 2010, Wehmeyer molested two postpubescent boys, 12 and 14, though it wasn’t until 2012 that the mother of the abused boys told a priest about it. She was told to call the cops. She did. Wehmeyer was immediately relieved of his duties, and the Ramsey County Attorney commended Archbishop Nienstedt for doing “the right thing.”

It was Nienstedt who got the priest removed. Under his predecessor, Archbishop Harry Flynn, Wehmeyer made sexually suggestive remarks to two men, 19 and 20; he was sent for counseling. Two year later, while Flynn was still in charge, he was found cruising in an area known for gay sex. In 2009, with Nienstedt at the helm, he got a DUI. If Nienstedt made one mistake, it was not dumping Wehmeyer sooner.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

[note: This was posted before the resignations today of Archbishop John C. Nienstedt and Bishop Lee A. Piche of the St. Paul and Minneapolis archdiocese.]

Pope Francis’s removal of Bishop Robert Finn is welcome even if long overdue. But what does it mean? Is it merely an attempt to squash scandal, or does it signal a new era of bishop accountability?

To facilitate understanding of this unusual papal action, BishopAccountability.org presents this list of complicit bishops who have resigned or been removed.

The Vatican’s announcement about Finn said only that he was removed in accordance with canon 401, paragraph 2, which states: “A diocesan bishop who has become less able to fulfill his office because of ill health or some other grave cause is earnestly requested to present his resignation from office.” This is the same notice the Vatican has issued in the firing of other complicit bishops who have caused scandal – such as Irish bishop Brendan Comiskey, removed by Pope John Paul II in 2002, and Irish bishop Seamus Hegarty, removed by Pope Benedict XVI in 2011.

What no pope has done to date is publicly confirm that he removed a culpable bishop because of his failure to make children’s safety his first priority. Pope Francis should issue such a statement about Finn. That would be unprecedented, and it would send a bracing message to bishops and religious superiors worldwide that a new era has begun.

It should be noted too that Pope Francis’s decision on Finn will add fuel to the fire in Chile; calls for the removal of Chilean bishop Juan de la Cruz Barros Madrid will intensify. We hope Francis will honor the pleas of the victims of disgraced priest Fernando Karadima, of his own Commission members, and of the priests and parishioners of the Osorno diocese, and rescind this disastrous appointment immediately. If Francis means business, he must be consistent.

Bishops who resigned during the papacy of John Paul II
Brendan Comiskey, SS.CC. (Ireland) | Kurt Krenn (Austria) | Bernard Law (United States) | Ronald Mulkearns (Australia) | Alphonsus Liguori Penney (Canada) | John Aloysius Ward, O.F.M. Cap. (Wales)

Bishops who resigned during the papacy of Benedict XVI
Raymond W. Field (Ireland) | Seamus Hegarty (Ireland) | John Magee, S.P.S. (Ireland) | James Moriarty (Ireland) | Donal Brendan Murray (Ireland) | Rafael Eleuterio Rey (Argentina) | Eamonn Oliver Walsh (Ireland) | Daniel Francis Walsh (United States)

Bishops who resigned during the papacy of Francis
Robert Finn (United States) | Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano (Paraguay)

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MINNESOTA
The New York Times

By MARK S. GETZFRED and MITCH SMITHJUNE 15, 2015

The Roman Catholic archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis and a deputy bishop resigned on Monday after prosecutors recently charged the archdiocese with having failed to protect youths from abuse by pedophile priests.

In statements released Monday morning, the archbishop, John C. Nienstedt, and an auxiliary bishop, Lee A. Piché, said they were resigning to help the archdiocese heal.

“My leadership has unfortunately drawn attention away from the good works of His Church and those who perform them,” Archbishop Nienstedt said. “Thus my decision to step down.”

The resignations come about 10 days after prosecutors in Minnesota filed criminal charges against the archdiocese for its mishandling of repeated complaints of sexual misconduct against a priest and a few days after the Vatican announced the formation of a tribunal to hear cases against bishops accused of neglecting or covering up abuse cases — an unprecedented mechanism but one whose details are yet unknown. …

Archbishop Nienstedt is stepping down two months after the resignation of Bishop Robert W. Finn in Kansas City-St. Joseph in Missouri, where he had weathered years of controversy over his handling of a priest convicted of taking pornographic photographs of young girls. Archbishop Finn was himself convicted on a misdemeanor charge of failing to report the priest — the first bishop convicted in the abuse scandal’s long history.

They are hardly the first bishops to resign under scrutiny or accusations that they failed abuse victims. Since the papacy of John Paul II — now St. John Paul — 16 other bishops have resigned or been forced from office under a cloud of accusations that they mishandled abuse cases, according to research by BishopAccontability.org, an advocacy group based in Boston. Archbishop Nienstedt is the 17th, by that group’s count.

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MINNESOTA
Legal Examiner

Posted by Joe Crumley
June 15, 2015

The news of Archbishop John Nienstedt’s apparent ouster by the church is flying through the Minnesota and Roman Catholic blogosphere. The Star Tribune banner headline highlighted the big story.

Still, there’s a more important question. Who will replace him? Remember, Nienstedt got the Archbishop job after he presided over a very similar priest sex abuse fiasco as Bishop in New Ulm. There was a cover up there, and when he came to St. Paul, he continued the same way if thinking. Will the church bring in a real reformer or will it be more of the same?

While it is good news that the church final acted. But survivors, parishioners alike want to know the reason for the change. Is this change being made just so Nienstadt can’t be called ‘former’ archbishop when he is charged or when further cover up is revealed?Are they bringing in another cleaning crew? Or is it actually a bout of conscience?

The church has a pattern of bring in replacements with experience in these scandals. Since the ‘experienced’ bishops have been mostly involved in covering over more than reforming, they tend to bring in someone with a history of covering, and hiding, rather than openness and reform. If they bring in another bishop who has a history of scandal and cover up, this is really only a change in names.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Patricia Thraen
Pioneer Press

Archbishop John Nienstedt came to Minnesota as bishop of New Ulm, Minn., in 2001. Here is more about his career.

March 18, 1947: Born in Detroit to John C. and Elizabeth S. Nienstedt. Second of six children.

1969: Graduated from Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Detroit.

1972: Earned bachelor’s degree in sacred theology at Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, and was ordained a deacon at the Pontifical North American College, Rome.

July 27, 1974: Ordained a priest. Served as associate pastor at Guardian Angels Parish, Clawson, Mich., where he remained until 1976.

1977: Appointed secretary to Cardinal Francis Dearden, and part-time professor of moral theology at St. John’s Provincial Seminary, Plymouth, Mich.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

The turmoil at the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis comes on the heels of criminal charges and a civil petition filed by Ramsey County Attorney John Choi against the organization June 5. Here is what the archdiocese faces:

— Six gross misdemeanor criminal charges — three charges of contributing to the need for protection of minors and three charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

— Three claims in civil court based on the same allegations.

The criminal charges and civil petition stem from church leaders’ alleged failure to protect children from Curtis Wehmeyer, a former priest who remained in the ministry for years despite signs he was a risk. Wehmeyer was convicted of molesting two boys and faces prosecution in Wisconsin for molesting a third.

The criminal charges are against the archdiocese as a corporation and not against individuals. They would not bring jail time, and the archdiocese could face a maximum of $18,000 in fines if convicted. The investigation continues.

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CANADA
CBC News

Lawyer Geoff Budden is hopeful that a civil suit by victims of abuse at the notorious Mount Cashel orphanage against the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corp. of St. John’s can proceed to trial this fall.

This follows a recent ruling by the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador.

“I think this is an important step, that gets us closer, hopefully, to a resolution of these claims after all of these years,” Budden told CBC News.

The plaintiffs say they were victims of physical and/or sexual abuse at the former orphanage between the 1940s and mid-60s.

The Episcopal Corp. had applied to hold a separate trial — referred to in legal terms as bifurcation — to determine whether it was liable for the abuse at the orphanage, with the question of damages to be determined later.

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MINNESOTA
Grand Forks Herald

By Sarah Volpenhein Today

A Roman Catholic priest convicted of sexually abusing a 16-year-old girl while working as a priest in Minnesota will walk a free man.

Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul was sentenced to time already served in jail after pleading guilty to fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct in Roseau County District Court.

As part of a plea agreement with the state, Jeyapaul was sentenced to one year and one day behind bars, time he had already served since his arrest in India in 2012.

Jeyapaul also faced charges of first-degree criminal sexual conduct in a second case out of Roseau County, but those were dismissed as part of the plea agreement.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Road to Recovery

Archbishop Emeritus of Hartford, CT, Daniel Cronin, who is also former Bishop of Fall River, MA, is named as a defendant in a Massachusetts lawsuit for negligent supervision (among other things) by two clergy sexual abuse victims from the Fall River, MA Diocese that was led by Bishop Daniel Cronin for over twenty years. This lawsuit has been filed as a result of a Connecticut lawsuit which was dismissed (among other reasons) because Archbishop Cronin agreed to waive the statute of limitations in Massachusetts

Fall River, MA, priest Msgr. Maurice Souza, sexually abused boys in CT, MA, and elsewhere.

Archbishop Emeritus of Hartford, CT, Daniel Cronin, when Bishop of Fall River, MA, among other things, negligently supervised Msgr. Maurice Souza, allowing him to sexually abuse at least two minor-aged boys for approximately ten years.

What
A press conference announcing the filing of a lawsuit against Archbishop Emeritus of Hartford, CT Daniel Cronin, who is also former Bishop of the Diocese of Fall River, MA.

When
Tuesday, June 16, 2015 at 11:00 am

Where
On the public sidewalk in front of the headquarters of the Diocese of Fall River, MA, near 423 Highland Avenue, Fall River, MA 02720 – 508-675-1311

Who
Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D., President of Road to Recovery, Inc., a non-profit charity that assists victims of sexual abuse and their families and advocate for the plaintiffs in this case

Why
A Connecticut Superior Court ruled on May 6, 2015 that in dismissing a civil case against former Fall River Bishop and Archbishop Emeritus of Hartford, CT, Daniel Cronin, and the Fall River, MA Diocese, former Bishop of Fall River, MA and Archbishop Emeritus of Hartford, CT Daniel Cronin will willingly travel to Massachusetts to testify in the case of two plaintiffs who were sexually abused by a Fall River, MA priest for approximately ten years, and that Archbishop Emeritus of Hartford, CT Daniel Cronin will submit to the jurisdiction of the Massachusetts court and waive any claim that the action is barred by the statute of limitations in Massachusetts. Former Fall River, MA, Bishop and Archbishop Emeritus of Hartford, CT, Daniel Cronin was the supervisor of Msgr. Maurice Souza when he was a priest of the Diocese of Fall River, MA. Souza sexually abused two children from approximately 9 to approximately 17 years of age, who were altar boys at St. Anthony’s Parish in East Falmouth on Cape Cod. The two victims were taken to Connecticut and Massachusetts for athletic events and other reasons and were sexually abused in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Archbishop Emeritus of Hartford, CT, Daniel Cronin, when he was Bishop of Fall River, MA, is accused of negligent hiring, retention, direction, and supervision, among other things.

Contacts
Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D., Road to Recovery, Inc. – 862-368-2800
Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, Boston, MA – 617-523-6250

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UNITED STATES
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on June 15, 2015

My email was flooded this morning with news that St. Paul and Minneapolis Archbishop John C. Nienstedt and Auxiliary Bishop Lee A. Piché had resigned. If you haven’t been following the news, the archdiocese has been hammered during the past two years as legal disclosures showed that ng a bad week

Less than two weeks ago, prosecutors filed criminal charges against the archdiocese. Although Nienstedt and Piché were not charged, the complaint outlined how both men knew about abuse and did little to nothing to protect children.

This morning, the Vatican announced that they had accepted the men’s resignations.

The resignations a positive moves and show a huge step in the right direction when it comes to punishing church officials who covered up abuse. Following on the heals of the resignation of Kansas City-St. Joseph Bishop Robert Finn, these ousters are well-needed, if not very overdue.

But Francis is not a brave reformer.

Before you wag your fingers at me and say, “Gee, Joelle! Why are you always so critical? Francis is doing great things. He’s different,” we need to take note of some very important facts:

1) The Vatican was not the group that exposed the wrongdoing of these bishops.

The ONLY reason we know about Finn is because brave prosecutors did the right thing and charged him with child endangerment. No one in the Vatican was going to do a thing. In fact, none of Finn’s fellow bishops called on law enforcement indict Finn for covering up child pornography. Even after the conviction, Finn’s fellow bishops said nothing in support of the victims.

2) The only reason we know about the scope and scale of crimes in Minnesota is because of their three-year civil window for victims.

Recently Minnesota passed The Child Victims’ Act, a three-year “window” that allows victims of child sex crimes to use the civil court to expose their abusers and get justice, no matter when the abuse occurred.

As more and more victims came forward to file child sex abuse and cover-up lawsuits, their attorneys were able to get access to and expose THOUSANDS of secret internal church documents that outlined how men like Nienstedt and former vicar general Kevin McDonough knew about abuse and abusers and did NOTHING to protect children at risk.

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CIUDAD DEL VATICANO
Andina

08:41. Ciudad del Vaticano, jun. 15. La Santa Sede anunció el lunes que en julio comenzará el primer juicio en el Vaticano de un prelado acusado de pederastia, así como la dimisión de dos obispos estadounidenses acusados de haber encubierto a curas pederastas de su diócesis.

“El presidente del tribunal del Estado del Vaticano acusó al ex nuncio apostólico de la República Dominicana Jozef Wesolowski. La primera audiencia tendrá lugar el 11 de julio”, informaba un comunicado.

Los delitos de los que se acusa al antiguo embajador fueron cometidos presuntamente durante su estancia en Roma, entre agosto de 2013 y el 22 de septiembre de 2014, cuando fue detenidos, así como durante sus funciones como nuncio (embajador) en República Dominicana, entre el 24 de enero de 2008 y el 21 de agosto de 2013.

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MINNESOTA
Wall Street Journal

By TOM CORRIGAN
June 15, 2015

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, whose top two officials resigned Monday in wake of criminal charges over the alleged failure to protect children from abusive priests, is facing an unprecedented convergence of litigation that lawyers say will continue to pose serious challenges for the archdiocese’s leadership.

In a statement Monday, Archbishop John C. Nienstedt, who stepped aside along with Auxiliary Bishop Lee Anthony Piche, said he resigned to give the archdiocese a new beginning.

“My leadership has unfortunately drawn attention away from the good works of His Church and those who perform them,” he said.

The resignations and recent criminal charges come as church leaders across the country continue to grapple with widespread allegations of child sexual abuse at the hands of clergy and related lawsuits. The abuse scandal has cost dioceses and other Catholic institutions in the U.S. nearly $2.9 billion since 2004 in compensation paid out to alleged victims, according to a recent report issued by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

“We’re at a new turning point, because we’ve never had criminal issues in the midst of a Roman Catholic bankruptcy,” said Patrick Wall, a former priest who now works for Jeff Anderson & Associates, a law firm representing a group of alleged abuse victims. “The system is converging and applying full pressure through civil, criminal and bankruptcy courts.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Tablet

15 June 2015 by Danny Sullivan

On 10 June Pope Francis’ “C9” advisory group of cardinals had one of their regular meetings with him, and if we needed persuading that Pope Francis was serious about reform, the three matters reported on related to: the Vatican finances and how they were overseen, the reorganisation of Vatican communications and radical proposals from the Vatican Commission for the Protection of Minors.
The proposals around safeguarding suggested putting an end to system whereby three different congregations deal with complaints about bishops, and instead set up a tribunal that would be located within the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. This alone would judge bishops in relation to abuse of office when connected to the abuse of minors.

The proposals for these changes, presented by Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley, were agreed by the advisory group of cardinals and immediately approved by Pope Francis. For a Church that is supposed to think in centuries, that is genuinely impressive.

As the commission recommended, Francis agreed that the tribunal should be properly set up, resourced and be given five years to settle to its work and then be evaluated.

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday June 15

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

A pedophile priest will soon be let out of jail. We fear he’ll strike again.

Fr. Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul – who worked in two Minnesota dioceses: St. Paul and Crookston – has been sentenced to “time served” for child sex crimes. He’ll be deported to his native India where kids are ever more vulnerable to savvy predators than kids are here.

On one hand, we’re glad that it’s now crystal clear to virtually everyone that he’s a dangerous man who should be kept away from kids. And we’re grateful to Megan Peterson, whose courage and persistence has kept this cunning child molester off the streets for years.

But we’re deeply worried that Fr. Jeyapaul will soon be near unsuspecting families and will assault more children. And if that happens, the blame can squarely be put on US and Indian Catholic officials who have acted irresponsibly from the outset in this terrible case.

We sorely wish law enforcement could have pursued more charges against Fr. Jeyapaul and kept him locked up much longer.

Few child molesters in history have been as widely exposed as Fr. Jeyapaul, thanks to Megan’s tireless and courageous prevention efforts. Still, most of his neighbors, relatives and colleagues likely know little or nothing about his crimes.

Megan has done almost everything possible – and more than perhaps any survivor we know – to protect kids from this monster. She filed a civil lawsuit, repeatedly cooperated with law enforcement, and even travelled to Geneva where she told a United Nations panel how Crookston Catholic officials acted recklessly, callously, hurtfully and deceptively in this case. She has courageously, generously and effectively taken worked hard and taken risks to make it much harder for Fr. Jeyapaul to hurt more girls or boys. We are incredibly proud of her and grateful to her.

When child sex abuse allegations against Fr. Jeyapaul surfaced, he quickly went back to India. We suspect that Crookston Catholic officials helped him flee. (According to BishopAccountability.org, Minnesota Catholic officials “knew of rumors about inappropriate behavior by Fr. Jeyapaul in 8/04” but Fr. Jeyapaul “suddenly returned to India in 9/05.”)

In India, Catholic officials gave him a job overseeing schools knowing full well that he was considered a fugitive from US criminal authorities.

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UNITED STATES
Religion News Service

Minneapolis Archbishop John Nienstedt resigns after charges over abuse scandal

By David Gibson | Religion News Service June 15

The Vatican on Monday (June 15) launched a major housecleaning of the scandal-plagued Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, accepting the resignation of Archbishop John Nienstedt along with that of a top Nienstedt aide, Auxiliary Bishop Lee Piche.

The moves come a little over a week after authorities charged the archdiocese for failing to protect children from an abusive priest and days after Pope Francis unveiled the first-ever system for disciplining bishops who do not act against predator clerics.

A Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, told reporters he did not know whether Nienstedt and Piche would be subject to further canonical investigation under the new process. “The situation is too complex to make a prediction on this yet,” he said, according to the Catholic news site Crux. …

Observers say these latest moves seem to signal an unprecedented effort by Rome to hold bishops accountable in the abuse crisis.

“I think this is a great tribute to Pope Francis,” Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, one of the pontiff’s top allies in the U.S. hierarchy, said when asked about Nienstedt’s resignation.

Wuerl was speaking at a conference bringing together bishops and labor leaders at the AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington to talk about the economy.

Wuerl said that while the Catholic Church has done a good job of addressing the problem of abusive priests, “What the pope has done is assure this also includes those responsible for supervision.”

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MINNESOTA
Seattle PI

1:05 p.m. CDT

The Minnesota prosecutor who brought criminal charges against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis says the archbishop’s resignation won’t stop his investigation.

Ramsey County Attorney John Choi says his goal is to hold the archdiocese accountable for actions that he says didn’t protect children.

Choi says Archbishop John Nienstedt’s resignation doesn’t directly accomplish that goal, although he calls it a good step toward a new beginning.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Monday accepted the resignation of the Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis in the United States, John Nienstedt, together with that of auxiliary bishop Lee Piché. The two Church leaders resigned from their posts under the provisions of the Code of Canon Law 401 §2 which allows bishops to step down because of illness or some other serious reason that makes them unfit for office.

The resignations come after the archdiocese was accused, earlier this month, of failing to protect local children from an abusive priest. Prosecutors on June 5th said the archdiocese failed to respond adequately to “numerous and repeated reports” of misconduct by Fr Curtis Wehmeyer, from his entrance into the seminary in 1997 until his formal dismissal as a priest in March of this year.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) The disgraced former Apostolic Nuncio to the Dominican Republic, Józef Wesołowski, has been ordered to stand trial in the Vatican, on charges he possessed child pornography and abused minors. The Charges stem both from his stay in Rome from August 2013 until the moment of his arrest (on 22 September 2014) and from the period he spent in the Dominican Republic, during the five years in which he held the office of Nuncio (24 January 2008 – 21 August 2013). A statement regarding the decision of the Tribunal of Vatican City State follows, below:

************************************************
The President of the Tribunal of Vatican City State, Professor Giuseppe Dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto, by decree of 6 June 2015 in response to the request submitted by the Office of the Promoter of Justice, has ordered the trial of the former apostolic nuncio to Dominican Republic, Józef Wesołowski. The first hearing of the trial is scheduled for 11 July 2015. The ex-prelate is accused of a number of offences committed both during his stay in Rome from August 2013 until the moment of his arrest (on 22 September 2014) and in the period he spent in the Dominican Republic, during the five years in which he held the office of apostolic nuncio (he was appointed as nuncio to the Dominican Republic on 24 January 2008 and apostolic delegate to Puerto Rico, offices from which he resigned on 21 August 2013).

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release Monday, June 15

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

Vatican officials claimed that the arrest of Archbishop Josef Wesolowski, the first inside the Vatican related to allegations of sexual abuse, in order to send a strong signal that even high-ranking Church officials would be held accountable. We dispute this claim. We believe that Wesolowski’s case is being handled internally by church figures for public relations reasons – to give the impression of “getting tough” while actually concealing cover ups and minimizing publicity.

[MSN]

[Yahoo! News]

Internally handling child sex crimes, whether by a custodian or cardinal or papal panel, is hardly progress. So we are not encouraged by Francis’ decision to rebuff police and prosecutors and to deal with Wesolowski through secretive church processes. Civilized countries usually have independent, experienced and impartial justice systems to handle crimes. That’s what must happen with clerics who commit and conceal child sex crimes.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

By AMY FORLITI Associated Press JUNE 15, 2015

MINNEAPOLIS — John Nienstedt’s term as leader of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis was rocky almost from the start.

His conservative views became well-known when he launched an expensive and unapologetic fight against gay marriage. In the last two years, he was besieged by a clergy sex-abuse scandal that included numerous lawsuits from victims and led to bankruptcy. Earlier this month, the archdiocese was criminally charged for failing to protect children.

On Monday, Nienstedt stepped down, saying he wanted to give the archdiocese a fresh start after his leadership had “drawn attention away from” the church’s good works and “those who perform them.”

Nienstedt took over the St. Paul archdiocese in 2007, replacing moderate Archbishop Harry Flynn, and his conservative reputation preceded him. As bishop in the nearby New Ulm Diocese, Nienstedt had criticized his predecessor’s call for dialogue on opening the priesthood to women. He also chided a priest in the small town of St. Peter for worshipping with Lutherans on several occasions after a tornado destroyed the town’s Catholic church in 1998.

And he led a drive to pressure legislators for a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as between one man and one woman, a cause he would take up again in St. Paul.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Archbishop Nienstedt and Auxiliary Bishop Pichè of St Paul’s-Minneapolis after Prosecutors charged the archdiocese for failing to protect minors from a predator priest

GERARD O’CONNELL

In a surprise but highly significant decision regarding bishop accountability, Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Archbishop John Clayton Nienstedt of St Paul’s and Minneapolis and also that of the archdiocese’s auxiliary bishop, Lee Anthony Piché.

The Vatican broke the news at midday on Monday, June 15, and said that Francis took the decision in conformity with Canon 401 #2 of the Church’s Code of Canon Law. Article 2 of that canon states: “A diocesan bishop who has become less able to fulfill his office because of ill-health or some other grave cause is earnestly requested to present his resignation from office.”

The “grave reason” for which the archbishop and auxiliary bishop handed in – or were asked to hand in – their resignation existed when Prosecutors, on June 5, charged the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis over its handling of clergy abuse claims. They charged that the archdiocese – and by implication its leaders – had failed to protect children from harm and had “turned a blind eye” to repeated reports of inappropriate behavior by one of its priests who was later convicted of molesting boys.

Ramsey County Attorney John Choi charged the archdiocese with six counts of “gross demeanor”. Announcing this, he said there was ‘not yet’ enough evidence to charge any individual. The charges relate to the archdiocese’s handing of the case of the former priest, Curtis Wehmeyer, who is currently serving a five-year prison sentence for molesting two boys and faces further prosecution involving a third boy in Wisconsin.

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

Jennifer Haselberger

The priests of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis received this message via email early this morning.

Subject:

Message from Archbishop John C. Nienstedt

My dear brothers in Christ, I would have preferred to share this with you in person, but the desire of the Holy See to announce this made it impossible to wait until the Presbyterial Assembly in Rochester to tell you. In order to give the Archdiocese a new beginning amidst the many challenges we face, I have submitted my resignation as Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis to our Holy Father, Pope Francis, and I have just received word that he has accepted it.

The Catholic Church is not our Church, but Christ’s Church, and we are merely stewards for a time. My leadership has unfortunately drawn attention away from the good works of His Church and those who perform them. Thus, my decision to step down. In addition, Bishop Lee Piché submitted his resignation to our Holy Father and it too was accepted. Our Holy Father has appointed Archbishop Bernard Hebda, Coadjutor Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Newark, to serve as the Apostolic Administrator for our Archdiocese until another Archbishop is appointed.

Bishop Piché’s statement to the media, and Archbishop Hebda’s bio and open letter to the
faithful are attached. This evening in Rochester, Bishop Andrew Cozzens will have an opportunity to address all the priests about this. It has been my privilege the last seven years to serve the local Church. I have come to appreciate deeply the vitality of the 187 parishes that make up the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. I am grateful for the support I have received from you, religious men and women and lay leaders, especially those who have collaborated with me in the oversight of this local Church. I leave with a clear conscience knowing that my team and I have put in plaace solid protocols to ensure the protection of minors and vulnerable adults. I ask for continued prayers for the well-being of this Archdiocese and its future leaders. I also ask for your continued prayers for me.

Fraternally Yours in Christ,
Archbishop John C. Niensted

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

By Inés San Martín
Vatican correspondent June 15, 2015

ROME — A Vatican prosecutor has ordered a defrocked Polish archbishop to stand trial for allegedly paying for sex with children while serving as a papal ambassador in the Dominican Republic.

A Vatican spokesman said Wednesday that ex-Archbishop Józef Wesolowski has been charged with two counts — sexual abuse of minors and possession of child pornography — and will stand trial July 11.

It will be the first criminal trial of a sexual abuse case conducted by the Vatican. The Vatican’s criminal courts have jurisdiction over Wesolowski because he is a papal diplomat and citizen of the Vatican City State.

The case has been highly sensitive, given that Wesolowski was an ambassador of the Holy See — a direct representative of the pope and not just one of the world’s 440,000 priests — and had been ordained both a priest and a bishop by St. John Paul II.

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UNITED STATES
Crux

By John L. Allen Jr.
Associate editor June 15, 2015

On Monday, two more American bishops lost their jobs while facing charges of failing to respond appropriately to accusations of child abuse lodged against personnel under their supervision.

More colloquially, they stepped down amid controversy related not to the crime, but the cover-up.

The resignations of Archbishop John Nienstedt and Auxiliary Bishop Lee Anthony Piche of St. Paul-Minneapolis come less than two months after the exit under similar circumstances of Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Missouri.

In 2012, Finn had become the lone American bishop to be criminally convicted on a misdemeanor charge of delaying to report an allegation of child abuse. Last month, prosecutors charged the St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese under Nienstedt as a corporation for having ignored repeated reports of inappropriate behavior by a priest who was later convicted of molesting two boys.

According to an American clearinghouse on the abuse scandals called BishopAccountability.org, Nienstedt and Piche become the 17th and 18th bishops to resign after being publicly criticized for covering up child abuse.

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MINNESOTA
Aljazeera America

Prosecutors earlier this month charged the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis with ignoring reports of abuse

June 15, 2015

The archbishop of St. Paul, Minnesota, and a deputy bishop resigned Monday after prosecutors there charged the archdiocese with having failed to protect children from unspeakable harm from a pedophile priest.

The Vatican said Pope Francis accepted the resignations of Archbishop John Nienstedt and Auxiliary Bishop Lee Anthony Piche. They resigned under the code of canon law that allows bishops to resign before they retire because of illness or some other “grave” reason that makes them unfit for office.

Earlier this month, prosecutors charged the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis as a corporation of having “turned a blind eye” to repeated reports of inappropriate behavior by a priest who was later convicted of molesting two boys. No individual was named in the complaint.

Prosecutors said in March that no charges would be brought against Nienstedt, who had been accused by a boy of inappropriately touching his buttocks during a group photo session. The prosecutors said there was “insufficient evidence” to charge the archbishop, and Nienstedt denied any inappropriate contact.

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NEW JERSEY/MINNESOTA
NJ.com

By Craig McCarthy | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on June 15, 2015

In the midst of a sex abuse scandal in Minnesota, an archbishop and another top bishop have resigned and the pope has appointed a New Jersey Catholic official the interim head of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, according to reports.

Archbishop John Nienstedt said in a statement he is leaving the archdiocese “with a clear conscience.”

Although not charged individually, Nienstedt and Auxiliary Bishop Lee Piché announced Monday the pope had accepted their resignations, according to The Washington Post.

“In order to give the Archdiocese a new beginning amidst the many challenges we face, I have submitted my resignation as Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis to our Holy Father, Pope Francis, and I have just received word that he has accepted it,” Nienstedt said.

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UNITED STATES
Hamilton and Grffin on Rights

Jun 15, 2015 | Terry McKiernan

In the children’s rights community, and especially among Catholics, the big news this past week was the decision by Pope Francis to create a new tribunal in Rome, which will try bishops who have covered up child abuse or have enabled the perpetrators. The Pope’s fast action on a recommendation from his Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors – instantaneous by Vatican standards – was a vindication for the Commission, its leaders Cardinal Seán O’Malley and Rev. Robert W. Oliver, and the two highly respected survivors who serve on it, Marie Collins and Peter Saunders.

Pope Francis must now get his new tribunal up to speed very quickly, if it is to cope with the situation in Australia (where a powerful Royal Commission is investigating the role of Pope Francis’s financial czar, Cardinal George Pell, in several abuse cases). The Pope’s speedy removal of Archbishop John C. Nienstedt and Auxiliary Bishop Lee A. Piché is yet another sign that he considers the tribunal’s work of the utmost importance.

Those actions by civil authorities are a reminder that change has been forced on the Catholic church by survivors willing to come forward, by prosecutors and inquiries able to investigate, and by civil suits that have made public many thousands of pages of evidence. Courage and persistence have now compelled the creation of the new Vatican tribunal, and we will see whether it brings the necessary zeal and transparency to its own work.

In a crucial development, Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh, the leader of the Catholic church in Ireland, told reporters after a meeting of the Irish bishops that “justice is indeed retrospective” and that he supports the tribunal’s working on past as well as present and future cases [see transcript with video]. Marie Collins, one of the survivors on the Pontifical Commission, subsequently confirmed that this was the case, raising the possibility that Cardinal Seán Brady, Cardinal Bernard Law, and Cardinal Roger Mahony could soon be experiencing the tender mercies of the tribunal.

While all of this has been unfolding, I’ve been reading the new biography of Archbishop Raymond G. Hunthausen of Seattle, A Still and Quiet Conscience: The Archbishop Who Challenged a Pope, a President, and a Church, by John A. McCoy (Orbis Books, 2015). As a reporter, McCoy covered the archdiocese, and then he worked as Hunthausen’s PR person during the final years in Seattle. The Hunthausen story as McCoy tells it is quite relevant to the tribunal’s retrospective task.

Hunthausen is the last surviving American bishop to have participated in the Second Vatican Council. He was the bishop of Helena MT for thirteen years (1962–1975) and archbishop of Seattle for sixteen years (1975–1991), retiring early at age 70 after an epic battle with Pope John Paul II, who was unhappy about Hunthausen’s anti-nuclear activism, his tax protest, his advocating for Vatican II–inspired reform, or his support of gay Catholics, or perhaps all of the above.

Conspicuous by its absence from that list of causes championed by Hunthausen is child safety. Yet in Helena and Seattle, many of Hunthausen’s priests were molesting children, and a good amount of his time was spent managing those cases.

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MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

Resignation of Archbishop Nienstedt: A step in the right direction and a time for reckoning

(St. Paul, MN) – The resignations of Archbishop Nienstedt and Bishop Piché and acceptance of them by the Vatican signals an important step in the necessary reckoning in the child abuse crisis. It is equally important to note that the resignation of one or two men from high positions does not in any way signal the end to the crisis or deal with the scope of the problem. It does signal that finally there is a small measure of reckoning under pressure. That pressure has been brought because of the courage of the survivors and the Minnesota Legislature. It is the opening of the courthouse doors by the legislature and courageous survivors bringing scores of lawsuits that led to the body of evidence—documents, secret files, depositions (see www.andersonadvocates.com) that created the pressure and exposure.

The resignations come as no surprise. The volume of documents and disclosures that have been disgorged through litigation, testimony given by the top officials and the body of evidence that has been developed by the civil suits and the investigation done by Ramsey County Attorney’s office foreshadowed the resignations, but still falls short of full accountability. It falls short of full accountability because this whole problem is not about one man or two bishops. It is about the system that’s entrenched in the old ways and adhering to secrecy and self-governance operating above the law.

The journey is far from over, the struggle remains to cause and create full accountability and reckoning for those who are complicit in the crimes and the reckless handling of so many priests. But there is power in symbolism and this is a symbolic gesture of a time for reckoning. To the survivors who have broken the silence and on whose shoulders we stand every day in this journey, we express gratitude. Reckoning and transparency is truth—truth grows hope.

Contact: Jeff Anderson: Office/651.964.3523 Cell/612.817.8665
Mike Finnegan: Office/651.964.3523 Cell/612.205.5531

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MINNESOTA
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Associated Press

9:15 a.m. (CDT)

A Minnesota attorney who has filed countless lawsuits against the Catholic Church over alleged clergy abuse says he’s not surprised by the resignation of the archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Archbishop John Nienstedt announced his resignation Monday, along with that of Bishop Lee Piche (PEE-‘shay). Their departure comes less than two weeks after the archdiocese was charged with failing to protect children.

Attorney Jeff Anderson says it’s clear to him that the two were forced out. He says their resignations are part of an “important reckoning” for the failure of top officials to respond appropriately when priests were accused of abusing children.

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MINNESOTA
Houston Chronicle

By The Associated Press | June 15, 2015

Parishioners leaving morning mass at the Cathedral of St. Paul have mixed feelings about the resignations of Archbishop John Nienstedt and Bishop Lee Anthony Piche.

The clerics’ departures come less than two weeks after the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis was charged with failing to protect children from clergy abuse.

Parishioner Leslie Ahlers, of Eagan, said Monday she considers Nienstedt a dedicated and thoughtful church leader, but that his resignation heralds a new chapter for the archdiocese.

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UNTIED STATES
Road to Recovery

REGARDING THE RESIGNATION OF ARCHBISHOP JOHN NIENSTEDT OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF ST. PAUL-MINNEAPOLIS AND THE APPOINTMENT OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY CO-ADJUTOR ARCHBISHOP BERNARD HEBDA AS TEMPORARY ADMINISTRATOR

Monday, June 15, 2015

It appears that the re-arrangement of the deck chairs on the Titanic continues in the Catholic Church with no indication that the Titanic is essentially being righted so the ship can sail in calm waters. Of course, the resignation of Archbishop John Nienstedt is welcome news. Archbishop Nienstedt did nothing but add to the pain and distress of sexual abuse victims and their advocates. With his background as an alleged sexual abuser in such places as a Detroit seminary and his less than ethical character as a member of the Church’s hierarchy, Archbishop Nienstedt never should have been appointed to the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis. His tenure was nothing but disgraceful. But that could be said for hundreds of other bishops, and the ship continues to sink while the chairs are being re-arranged.

The Vatican has chosen to take one of the Titanic “chairs” from the Newark Archdiocese to be the temporary administrator of the St. Paul-Minneapolis Archdiocese. Co-adjutor Archbishop Bernard Hebda, who was scheduled to succeed the disgraced Newark Archbishop John Myers when he submits his retirement letter in 2016, is now headed to Minnesota to occupy that Archdiocese’s seat, at least temporarily. In much the same way that Bishop Joseph Galante (Camden, New Jersey) asked out of the Diocese of Dallas, TX when he was co-adjutor bishop because he couldn’t get along with former Dallas Bishop Charles Grahmann, it is clear that Archbishop Bernard Hebda had had it with Archbishop John Myers and his lack of leadership in the Archdiocese of Newark. It was a perfect pretext to re-arrange the chairs in two sinking ships. We don’t foresee Archbishop Hebda ever becoming the Archbishop of Newark and believe he will stay in the Midwest.

What does all this mean? It means that Pope Francis is trying, but it might be too late. The Church continues to sink under the weight of its own corruption and mismanagement, and nothing but a full-scale abandonment of structures and policies and that created this mess will change things. The hierarchy of the Church has to go, with a more democratic and people-centered organization taking its place.

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

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MINNESOTA/MICHIGAN
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, June 15

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

A Minnesota Catholic archbishop whose archdiocese faces criminal charges for endangering kids has resigned. But this should be just the beginning of a long process of exposing and punishing clerics who put kids in harm’s way.

Twin Cities Archbishop John Nienstedt spent almost 50 years in Detroit. He also faces allegations of sexual misconduct with ten seminarians. At least some of the reported misdeeds happened in Detroit, where Nienstedt for six years was President of Sacred Heart Major Seminary. In 1996, he was named an Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Detroit.

Detroit’s current archbishop must help Minnesota prosecutors and Michigan Catholics, by aggressively reaching out to anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered sexual misdeeds by his colleague.

[Star Tribune]

For the safety of parishioners and the public, Detroit Archbishop Allen Vigneron must act. We beg him to use his vast resources – parish websites, church bulletins and pulpit announcements – to seek out anyone else who may have been hurt by Nienstedt. This is the very least Vigneron should do.

When allegations of sex crimes or misdeeds against clergy arise, Catholic officials almost always do the absolute bare minimum. Rarely, if ever, do they act responsibly and decisively, by helping the investigations. And by their silence and inaction, Catholic officials make such investigations harder and less successful.

Catholic officials can’t have their cake and eat it too, by insisting on internal investigations into sexual misconduct but doing little or nothing to help with these investigations.

For centuries, sexual misconduct has been carefully and effectively hidden by a rigid, secretive, all-male monarchy in the Catholic church. Despite promises of reform, such misconduct remains largely hidden. Vigneron can become part of the solution, by taking decisive action now. Or he can keep being part of the problem, by passively sitting back and refusing to extend a helping hand to Minnesota investigators and to perhaps even more suffering Detroit Catholics, some of whom might be his own priests.

(One of Nienstedt’s accusers, a former priest named Joel Cycenas, has spoken publicly in the Star Tribune.

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MINNESOTA
Religion News Service

David Gibson | June 15, 2015

(RNS) The Vatican on Monday (June 15) launched a major housecleaning of the scandal-plagued Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, accepting the resignation of Archbishop John Nienstedt along with that of a top Nienstedt aide, Auxiliary Bishop Lee Piche.

The moves come a little over a week after authorities charged the archdiocese for failing to protect children from an abusive priest and days after Pope Francis unveiled the first-ever system for disciplining bishops who do not act against predator clerics.

A Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, told reporters he did not know whether Nienstedt and Piche would be subject to further canonical investigation under the new process but added: “It is a valid question.”

In April, Bishop Robert Finn of Missouri, who three years earlier became the first bishop convicted of failing to report a priest suspected of child abuse, was forced to resign, effectively the first bishop in the decades-long crisis that the Vatican pushed out for covering up for an abuser.

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VATIKAN
Die Welt

[Pope Francis makes the goat the gardener.]

Der Papst macht also Nägel mit Köpfen: Franziskus hat verkünden lassen, dass er einen Gerichtshof im Vatikan einrichten will, der sexuellen Missbrauch in der Kirche aburteilen soll. Das Besondere: Nicht die Täter sollen vor den Kirchenrichtern stehen, sondern jene Oberhirten, die Fälle von sexuellem Missbrauch durch Priester oder kirchliche Mitarbeiter in ihrem Bistum vertuscht haben, statt sie aufzuklären.

Doch schon bevor der Gerichtshof überhaupt eingerichtet ist, gibt es Zweifel gerade unter Opfern, ob es dem Papst wirklich ernst ist mit der Aufklärung. Grund: Der Gerichtshof wird in der Glaubenskongregation angesiedelt, wo mit Gerhard Ludwig Kardinal Müller ein Kirchenfürst sitzt, der einst selbst als Bischof Erfahrung mit dem Vertuschen eines Missbrauchsfalls gemacht hat. Das zumindest bestätigten deutsche Gerichte.

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VATIKAN
N-TV

So etwas gab es im Vatikan noch nicht: Schon im vergangenen Jahr wurde der hochrangige, polnische Geistliche festgenommen, weil er Kinder sexuell missbraucht haben soll. Nun drohen dem 66-Jährigen bis zu zwölf Jahre Haft.

Der frühere Papstbotschafter Josef Wesolowski wird wegen des Verdachts auf sexuellen Missbrauch von Kindern im Vatikan vor Gericht gestellt. Der Prozess soll am 11. Juli beginnen, wie der Kirchenstaat mitteilte.

Dem ehemaligen polnischen Erzbischof werden unter anderem sexueller Missbrauch von Kindern und der Besitz von kinderpornografischem Material vorgeworfen. Es ist das erste Mal, dass im Vatikan ein hochrangiger katholischer Geistlicher wegen Vorwürfen des sexuellen Missbrauchs vor Gericht gestellt wird. Wesolowski droht nun eine Haftstrafe bis zu zwölf Jahren.

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VATIKAN
BZ Basel (Schweiz)

Der frühere Papstbotschafter Josef Wesolowski wird wegen des Verdachts auf sexuellen Missbrauch von Kindern im Vatikan vor Gericht gestellt. Der Prozess gegen den 66-Jährigen soll am 11. Juli beginnen, wie der Kirchenstaat am Montag mitteilte.

Bis 2013 war Josef Wesolowski Botschafter des Papstes. Ab Juli steht er vor Gericht. Dem früheren polnischen Erzbischof werden unter anderem sexueller Missbrauch von Kindern und der Besitz von kinderpornografischem Material vorgeworfen. Es ist das erste Mal, dass im Vatikan ein hochrangiger katholischer Geistlicher wegen Vorwürfen des sexuellen Missbrauchs vor Gericht gestellt wird.

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NEW JERSEY/MINNESOTA
Survivors Networkof Those Abused by Priests

Statement by Mark Crawford, New Jersey SNAP leader, 732-632-7687, mecrawf@comcast.net

The new head of the Twin Cities archdiocese defended a controversial colleague who spent extravagantly on an opulent home for himself.

In an op ed last year, Bishop Bernard Hebda defended the residence that Archbishop John Myers is building for himself.

[NorthJersey.com]

We feel sorry for Newark Catholics and now Twin Cities Catholics who had assumed or now assume that Bishop Hebda would be different from and better than Myers or Neinstedt. In Newark, Hebda has no doubt dashed their hopes. In St. Paul, we suspect that he will.

And we’re sad too that Hebda displays a greater loyalty to his selfish colleague than to parishioners.

Pope Francis urges us to show mercy to the poor. Hebda, however, urges us to show mercy to an imperial and imperious monarch, a man who has shown, time and time again over a long clerical career, that he values his power and reputation more than victims and parishioners.

It’s striking that Hebda can’t even bring himself to use the phrase “Myers’ personal home.” Instead, he euphemistically calls it a “construction project.”

When Pope Francis sent Hebda to New Jersey, he again missed a clear opportunity to discipline, demote, denounce or even defrock a blatantly reckless, callous and deceitful prelate and send a powerful signal that cover ups will no longer be tolerated. Now, sending Hebda to Minnesota, Francis again refuses to be honest about the troubling crisis there and about his motives.

It will be tempting for many to read more into this appointment than they should. Because Vatican officials usually refuse to disclose the rationale for their actions – or are notoriously vague when they do so – no one can really be certain whether this move is in any way connected to Neinstedt’s repeatedly irresponsible actions with predator priests.

But many Catholics will assume this. We caution them against leaping to conclusions. No one person caused the horrific scandal in Newark. No one person can fix it. The real solution isn’t juggling secretive church officials. The real solution requires every single current and former Catholic Church employee and member to call law enforcement with any knowledge or suspicions of clergy sex crimes and cover ups, no matter how old, small, vague or seemingly insignificant that knowledge or those suspicions might be. That’s what protects kids – the courage of many adults, not the shuffling of two officials.

Finally, Bishop Hebda is a lawyer, a fact that worries us. Most bishops approach clergy sex abuse and cover up cases like lawyers, instead of shepherds.

And he’s worked in two states with particularly archaic, predator-friendly child sex abuse laws, which means it’s hard to really assess how he’s handled clergy sex crimes and cover ups.

Neither of those dioceses has posted names of predator priests on their websites, as roughly 30 US bishops have. And Hebda has done nothing in Gaylord or Newark that indicates to us that he’ll be any different or better than the overwhelming majority of his clerical colleagues who continue to conceal clergy sex crimes.

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