ABUSE TRACKER

AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

AAP

THE Christian Brothers have reached new settlements with some of the former students who were abused at its West Australian boarding schools and previously given unjust payouts.

AT the end of public hearings by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, which looked at its Tardun, Bindoon, Clontarf and Castledare facilities in WA, the Christian Brothers undertook to re-examine cases that had been settled on unjust and unreasonably low terms.

Brother Peter Clinch said 130 requests for re-examination were received.
By the end of last month, 64 of those cases had been re-examined and new settlements reached.

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

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

People with disabilities who have suffered sexual abuse as a child will have the chance to speak about their experiences at three forums in western Victoria’s Wimmera this week.

Horsham, Warracknabeal and Nhill will host information sessions for people with disabilities, their friends, family members, staff working in disability organisations and whistleblowers.

The forums are part of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

The information sessions are designed to outline support and people will have the opportunity to speak about abuse they have experienced or witnessed.

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

UNITED STATES
Religion News Service

Rich Preheim | July 6, 2015

(RNS) From seminars to a service of lament to a statement confessing its failure to offer healing for survivors, sexual abuse was a prominent topic at the Mennonite Church USA’s biennial convention, which concluded Sunday (July 5).

Not prominently mentioned, but on many people’s minds, was the denomination’s complicity in the rampant sexual violations by one of its most distinguished members, the late theologian John Howard Yoder.

The revelations of sexual violence committed by one of the most influential shapers of Christian pacifism have left many people grappling with the incongruity.

“The impetus for these initiatives was ‘We don’t want this to happen again,’” said Hannah Heinzekehr, director of communications for the denomination.

A lifelong Mennonite who died in 1997, Yoder was one of the greatest theologians of the 20th century. Many of his books remain in print, including the classic “The Politics of Jesus,” first published in 1972 and called one of the 10 best books of the 20th century by Christianity Today.

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

IRELAND
Irish Times

Jacky Jones

The evidence of Cardinal Seán Brady, retired Archbishop of Armagh, to the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry in Banbridge, Co Down, cannot be taken seriously. Or else he still doesn’t get child abuse. He used the word “scandal” to describe the cover-up of Fr Brendan Smyth’s abuse. This use of language means that Cardinal Brady sees sexual abuse as a moral issue, not a crime.

His claim that the Catholic Church hierarchy did not understand paedophilia is irrelevant, and a distraction. No one needs to understand paedophilia to realise that sexual assaults on children are criminal acts. Child abuse is like domestic violence and adult rape. Such crimes are always about the abuse of power and using fear to get what you want. Child abusers do it because they can, not because they have irresistible urges.

Cardinal Brady also claimed that the hierarchy did not understand the effect of sexual abuse on children. What part of raping and buggering girls and boys did they not understand? What effect did they think these criminal acts would have on children? When adult women and men are raped, the consequences are catastrophic. How much worse must it be for children? With rape and buggery there would have been injuries. Yet Cardinal Brady asked the two boys who had been abused by Smyth whether they “liked” what was done to them. When gathering evidence during the canonical inquiry in 1975 he ought to have known that children were at risk of serious harm. Swearing witnesses to secrecy is akin to aiding and abetting these crimes and left hundreds more children at risk of rape. Let’s hope that those in the church who are now charged with safeguarding children have a better understanding of the law.

Laws dealing with sexual assaults on minors go back nearly two centuries. The Offences Against the Person Act of 1861 covered rape and sexual assaults of girls and boys. “Whosoever shall be guilty of the crime of rape . . . shall be liable to be kept in penal servitude for life” and “persons convicted of aggravated assaults on females and boys under 14 years of age may be imprisoned or fined”. The Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1935 also covered sexual abuse. “Any person who unlawfully and carnally knows any girl under the age of 15 shall be guilty of a felony and shall be liable on conviction thereof to penal servitude for life.” Buggery of boys was also covered and attracted a sentence of life imprisonment. These Acts were updated and strengthened by the Criminal Law (Rape) Amendment Act 1990. The new Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill will provide greater protection for children when it is finally enacted.

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

CALIFORNIA
Modesto Bee

BY ROSALIO AHUMADA

A 37-year-old man who volunteered at a Turlock church agreed to a plea deal Monday afternoon that will result in a 28-year prison sentence for sexually abusing three boys.

Eduardo Arellano Sanchez pleaded no contest to committing lewd and lascivious acts with a child younger than 14 and two counts of continuous sexual abuse of a child. In exchange for his plea, prosecutors dropped six other felonies in connection with the abuse.

A preliminary hearing for the defendant was scheduled to begin Monday morning. The attorneys, however, worked through the morning to reach a plea deal.

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

MINNESOTA
KSTP

By: Rebecca Omastiak

The names of seven priests of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate who have been accused of sexually abusing children will be released publicly Tuesday.

According to a statement issued by St. Paul law firm Jeff Anderson & Associates, PA, all seven of the priests served in Minnesota for part of their careers. Other locations at which the priests worked include Illinois, Missouri, Mississippi, Texas, Nebraska, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, California, Florida, Massachusetts, Washington, D.C., and Canada.

The release of names is part of a settlement reached in a civil lawsuit brought against the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, the Diocese of Duluth and the Diocese of New Ulm in April.

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

UNITED KINGDOM
The Argus

A FORMER priest and deputy school headmaster “preyed” on two young boys for his own sexual gratification over a seven year period, a court has heard.

Christopher Howarth appeared yesterday at Hove Trial Centre accused of 20 counts of sexual activity with the two boys, between 2004 and 2011.

The 67-year-old is accused of engaging the boys, who were pupils at the school and members of his congregation, in sexual activity in return for up to £100 a time, computer games and mobile phone contracts.

Howarth, of Rocks Park Road in Uckfield, said the boys’ allegations were motivated by “financial gain” knowing he had a second bank account containing thousands of pounds.

The former deputy headteacher at Uckfield Community Technology College said he treated the boys like “his own children” and while he could be “tactile” with them or kiss them, there was “nothing inappropriate” about their relationship.

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

AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Josh Bornstein

Monday 6 July 2015

At first glance, a national redress scheme for victims of childhood sexual abuse, jointly funded by government, churches, schools and other institutions, might seem like a sensible idea. A meaningful form of redress for victims is decades overdue. Such a scheme has been recommended by the royal commission into institutional child sexual abuse and received strong support from the Catholic church’s truth, justice and healing council (TJHC).

The federal government has not agreed to such a scheme, presumably with an eye to the bottom line. The temptation will be strong for many to call on the government to accept the royal commission’s recommendation.

And yet there is something about a national scheme that sticks in the craw. Should taxpayers fund a national compensation scheme? We have funded the current royal commission, which has been a ground-breaking investment in a better society. Julia Gillard’s brilliant “captain’s call”. But should we be required to subsidise the compensation payments to victims of the Catholic church’s monumental criminal enterprise?

The Catholic church is but one of the institutions that failed to take adequate steps to prevent children from being molested and raped. The royal commission has exposed many others including the ultra-Orthodox Jewish institution, Yeshivah, the Anglican church and the Salvation Army. The case for distinguishing the Catholic church rests on at least three propositions.

First, by virtue of its size, the scale of child sexual abuse within the Catholic church is extraordinary. We will never know precise numbers; the nature of child sexual abuse ensures that some victims will never speak up and others will commit suicide without sharing their awful experience. Thousands have been abused and many more devastated.

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

MICHIGAN
MLive

By Jessica Shepherd | jessica_shepherd@mlive.com
on July 06, 2015

MOUNT PLEASANT, MI — A priest in the Catholic Diocese of Saginaw is on administrative leave due to what the diocese is calling “boundary violations.”

The Rev. Denis Heames, who serves as parochial administrator for St. Mary University Parish in Mount Pleasant, was placed on leave last week, according to a statement released by the diocese Monday, July 6.

The diocese said the alleged incident or incidents that led to Heames’ leave did not involve minors and are not criminal in nature. The diocese declined to provide any additional information.

Erin Looby, a spokeswoman for the Catholic Diocese of Saginaw, said the diocese would report any indication of illegal activity to law enforcement.

According to the statement released by the diocese, Bishop Joseph Cistone spoke with parishioners Sunday, July 5, at the Mount Pleasant church.

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

MAINE
National Law Journal

Sheri Qualters, The National Law Journal
July 6, 2015

A trial opens today in Maine federal court against a man who claimed in Internet postings and blast emails that a missionary sexually abused Haitian children and that a U.S. nonprofit enabled him.

The plaintiffs are Hearts with Haiti Inc., the Raleigh-based nonprofit, and Michael Geilenfeld, executive director of St. Joseph Family of Haiti, which provides housing, education and other services to children. Hearts with Haiti supports St. Joseph Family. They sued Freeport, Maine, resident Paul Kendrick, alleging defamation.

“The court has been convinced for quite some time that this intractable and emotional dispute can only be resolved by a trial, where the parties, represented by extremely able counsel, put the merits of their claims and defenses before a jury,” U.S. District Judge John A. Woodcock Jr. (left) wrote on July 1. He denied the plaintiffs’ motion seeking the names of all recipients of the defendant’s emails from three accounts.

The case, which dates to February 2013, claims Kendrick began a “malicious campaign of outrageous conduct” in January 2011, without having met any of the plaintiffs’ employees, staff, volunteers or other associates. The plaintiffs claim Kendrick disseminated false accusations via blogs, website postings, email and a radio interview.

The conduct caused them “severe financial harm” that lessened their ability to care for Haitian children, they alleged.

Kendrick said his accusations reflect allegations by seven men who will testify that Geilenfeld abused them as children at an orphanage in Haiti.

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

MAINE
Bangor Daily News

By Beth Brogan, BDN Staff
Posted July 06, 2015

PORTLAND, Maine — Attorneys are scheduled to give opening arguments Tuesday in the civil trial of Paul Kendrick, a Freeport man who was sued for defamation in 2013 by a former Catholic brother from Haiti and his nonprofit organization.

Michael Geilenfeld, 63, of Port au Prince, Haiti, and Hearts with Haiti, a North Carolina-based nonprofit group that raised money for orphanages run by Geilenfeld, filed suit against Kendrick, 65, an outspoken advocate for victims of clergy sexual abuse who claimed Geilenfeld, an Iowa native, sexually abused children.

Geilenfeld and Hearts with Haiti claim false allegations by Kendrick about Geilenfeld defamed the organization and caused fundraising events in the U.S. to be canceled.

The civil complaint, filed in February 2013, was amended after Geilenfeld’s release from a Haitian jail. It now includes a request for additional damages because of Geilenfeld’s “horrific experiences in prison.”

In a pre-trial brief filed last month, Geilenfeld’s attorney, Peter DeTroy of Portland, claimed his client’s damages “far exceed[ed] $10 million.” The charity has claimed losses of more than $2 million in donations, according to court documents.

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

MAINE
The New York Times

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JULY 6, 2015

PORTLAND, Maine — An outspoken Roman Catholic who advocates for child sexual abuse victims has been relentless in targeting those he believes have mistreated children or covered up for abusers. A jury that was seated Monday will decide whether the combative activist went too far in a campaign against an orphanage founder in Haiti.

Hearts With Haiti, a nonprofit that raises money for the orphanage, and the U.S. citizen who founded the orphanage have accused activist Paul Kendrick of spreading falsehoods that have cost the charity more than $2 million in donations.

Kendrick said he’s eager for jurors in the defamation lawsuit to hear accusers testify in federal court about what he described as “unspeakable acts” performed by Michael Geilenfeld.

The trial, which begins with opening statements on Tuesday, is expected to last about three weeks. The plaintiffs, who say testimony will support damages in excess of more than $10 million, said in a court document that Kendrick has exhibited a “maniacal refusal against all reason” to acknowledge that his accusations were false and egregious.

“The defendant sets out to wreck careers, scare, harass, and humiliate kind-hearted, good people, with his recklessly leveled charges of support for child molesters or child abuse,” a lawyer wrote.

Kendrick, who lives in Freeport, Maine, said he’s giving a voice to those who needed one. “I raised the allegations for those who’ve been trying to do so for 25 years,” he said Monday.

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

MAINE
Portland Press Herald

BY ERIC RUSSELL STAFF WRITER
erussell@pressherald.com | @PPHEricRussell | 207-791-6344

A federal defamation trial involving an outspoken advocate for child sex abuse victims from Freeport who has accused the founder of an orphanage in Haiti of abusing boys opened this week in U.S. District Court in Portland.

Ten jurors – eight women and two men – were selected Monday to hear the case. Attorneys for Paul Kendrick, who is being sued for defamation, and plaintiff Michael Geilenfeld, will deliver opening statements on Tuesday, kicking off a trial that is expected to be both lengthy and emotionally charged.

Judge John Woodcock even cautioned both Kendrick, 65, and Geilenfeld, 63, on Monday about making any outbursts that might taint the jury in any way. The two tussled verbally at a pretrial hearing last month.

“Each of you will likely hear things about yourself that you profoundly disagree with and that strike you right to the core,” Woodcock told the two men. “I do not want to admonish you in front of the jury. It will not help your case if I do that.”

Geilenfeld filed his lawsuit in February 2013, alleging that Kendrick wrote repeatedly in emails and on a blog that Geilenfeld sexually abused boys at his orphanage in Haiti. Geilenfeld has denied the charges.

Kendrick has said he felt compelled to share what he heard from victims and their family members.

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

MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

Media Advisory

July 6, 2015

Survivor of Childhood Sexual Abuse by Oblate Priest to Speak About Abuse Publicly for First Time

WHAT: The names and assignment histories of seven priests of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (“Oblates”) who have been credibly accused of sexually abusing children will be released publicly for the first time. A survivor of sexual abuse by one of these priests will speak publicly for the first time about the abuse. The priests all served in Minnesota for part of their careers. Other locations at which the priests worked include Missouri, Illinois, Mississippi, Texas, Nebraska, Wisconsin, South Dakota, California, Florida, Massachusetts, Washington, D.C., North Dakota and Canada.

• The release is part of a settlement reached in a civil lawsuit brought by Doe 30 against the Oblates, the Diocese of Duluth and the Diocese of New Ulm. The settlement was reached in April between Doe 30, the plaintiff, and defendant Oblates. The other defendants in the case – the Diocese of Duluth and Diocese of New Ulm – were not part of the settlement, and Doe 30’s case against them is still pending in Ramsey County District Court.

• The lawsuit stems from Doe 30’s sexual abuse by Father J. Vincent Fitzgerald, an Oblate priest, in 1978 when Doe 30 was a minor.

WHEN: Tuesday, July 7, 2015 at 1:00 PM CDT

WHERE: Offices of Jeff Anderson and Associates, P.A.
366 Jackson Street, Suite 100
St. Paul, MN 55101

NOTES: Assignment histories will be available online and we will live stream the press event from our website www.andersonadvocates.com.

Contact Jeff Anderson: Office/651.227.9990 Cell/612.817.8665
Contact Mike Finnegan: Office/651.227.9990 Cell/612.205.5531

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

MAINE
Ignatius Group

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Judge John A.Woodcock, Jr., presiding

8:30 a.m. / Courtroom 2 / Opening Statements by Attorneys for Plaintiffs and Defendant

10:30 a.m. / Plaintiffs’ first witness / According to Attorney Peter DeTroy, witnesses may include:
Bill Nathan, St. Joseph’s Home for Boys, Haiti
Shelley Wiley, Hearts with Haiti
Walnas Cangas, St. Joseph’s Home for Boys, Haiti
Paul Kendrick, Freeport, Maine

2:30 p.m. / Court recesses for the day

We will publish a schedule of the next day’s witnesses by 6:00 pm each day.

Plaintiffs expect to present witnesses for two weeks, followed by one week for Defendant’s presentation.

U.S. District Court
156 Federal Street
Portland, Maine 04101
207-780-3356
http://www.med.uscourts.gov/

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

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Jade Macmillan

The Christian Brothers has reached settlements with more victims following the Perth hearings of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

The royal commission last year examined abuse allegations at Christian Brothers colleges in Bindoon, Tardun, Clontarf and Castledare between 1947 and 1968.

Victims described being sexually and emotionally abused as well as being subjected to hard labour.

Many also complained about the amount of compensation they had received.

The royal commission found the Christian Brothers leadership was aware of abuse allegations for decades but failed to act.

It also found at least one Brother who had been accused of abusing children was moved to another institution.

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

UNITED KINGDOM
Addicting Info

For many, religion has become a place to visit to escape from the troubles that life brings, as well as a place of sanctuary, or a place to give thanks and share joy. However, for others, organized religion can end up being extremely damaging to the psyche as far too many who interpret those religions use religious indoctrination and texts to abuse the teachings of any particular religion to implement their own thoughts, ideas, and ways of life.

Dr. Marlene Winell dives into this world of abuse first-hand to study it’s damaging effects. She holds her doctorate in Human Development and Family Studies and offers services that aid in recovery from religion. She writes:

“I think we can acknowledge we have a subculture now – a group of people who were once religious but have left and are reclaiming their lives. This group is special and identifiable. It’s not just exChristian; it’s exMormon, exMuslim, ex-Jehovah-Witness, ex-cult, and ex-authoritarian.”

Winell wrote an article for the British Association for Behavioural & Cognitive Psychotherapies that explains what she calls “Religious Trauma Syndrome” (RTS). Within the article she writes:

“Religious indoctrination can be hugely damaging, and making the break from an authoritarian kind of religion can definitely be traumatic. It involves a complete upheaval of a person’s construction of reality, including the self, other people, life, the future, everything. People unfamiliar with it, including therapists, have trouble appreciating the sheer terror it can create and the recovery needed.”

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

UNITED STATES
Rabbinical Council of America

June 29, 2015

Page 11 of 22

RECOMMENDATIONS: OVERVIEW

These following recommendations build on those initially developed as part of the establishment of the GPS Network.

At the time of the establishment of the GPS system, attention was paid primarily to the development of Batei Din that would function according to standardized halachic procedures. Primary concerns included the essential requirement of conversion candidates’ full observance of Jewish law at the time of the conversion, as well as with their expectation and commitment to continue to live as observant Jews. The emphasis in establishing this system was to maintain a high quality of the conversions in order to assure that they would be widely recognized.

The emphasis of the RCA in establishing these Batei Din was thus primarily on the halachic practices of the Batei Din and not on the experiences of the converts. It was assumed at the time that the experiences of converts, their training, their spiritual and religious development, their emotional process and comfort would be tended to by their Sponsoring Rabbis who had much experience in these areas.

The collection of data from the surveys, from input of those involved in conversion preparation as teachers and sponsoring rabbis, as well as from the collective experience of the Review Committee members, have made apparent, however, that the RCA must not limit its attention to halachic details, but to the many areas and aspects of the complexity of the total conversion experience for conversion candidates including emotional, spiritual, social issues, power dynamics, and other factors. While many converts felt satisfied with the process of conversion, a significant minority felt vulnerable, unduly stressed, and sometimes even resentful of the process. These recommendations expand the attention that must be given to the quality of the experiences of converts.

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

UNITED STATES
Rabbinical Council of America

Jul 5, 2015 — NEW YORK, July 6, 2015 – The committee charged with reviewing the conversion processes of the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) for the purpose of better serving conversion candidates has completed its task and submitted a detailed report that was enthusiastically received by the organization’s membership. This followed a series of presentations by committee members at the RCA’s annual convention – held June 29-July 1, 2015 in Tarrytown, New York – that included a transparent discussion of the issues at hand, a thorough presentation of the committee’s findings and recommendations, and the deep emotion felt by those involved in the review process.

The mandate of the committee – consisting of rabbis and other community representatives – was to evaluate the entire system of conversions in order to identify best practices, understand the delivery of services from all perspectives and make recommendations for establishing a “gold standard” process that is professional, respectful and spiritually engaging. Over a nine-month period, the committee paid attention to both the issues and systems it found deficient, and those areas it found to be appropriate and effective. Its 22–page report is available to the public on the RCA’s website at www.rabbis.org.

Bethany Mandel, a member of the committee who converted to Judaism, said in her address at the RCA convention, “I am hopeful that this report will make it better for American conversion candidates going forward. Working with this incredible group of Jewish professionals and rabbis has reinstilled a lot of the faith I had in Jewish communal life at the outset of my conversion. Evelyn [Fruchter] and I were chosen with those in the RCA knowing that we weren’t going to be ‘yes women,’ that we weren’t going to sit back and take a passive role in this process. We came to the table with our sleeves rolled up, and we were accepted at the table as equals. I have a great deal of respect for that. I’m cautiously optimistic. The framework we’ve laid out here…is a great start, but it’s up to many of you in this room today to make sure that the spirit of these recommendations is carried out. I hope that we are all up to the task.”

The focus of the committee was the Geirus Policies and Standards (GPS) processes and network. GPS was established in 2007 by the RCA and its affiliated Beth Din of America in an effort to standardize conversion practices and better serve conversion candidates. The network is comprised of 12 regional conversion courts administered by a national GPS office and, to date, more than 1,300 candidates have converted to Judaism through the GPS process. A review of the GPS processes had been previously commissioned, but the October 2014 arrest of Barry Freundel expanded the mandate and urgency.

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

UNITED STATES
JTA

By Uriel Heilman
July 6, 2015

NEW YORK (JTA) – After facing criticism for its handling of inappropriate behavior by a convert-supervising rabbi who turned out to be a mikvah-peeping voyeur, the country’s main centrist Orthodox rabbinical group has released key guidelines aimed at preventing abuses during the conversion process.

The Rabbinical Council of America is recommending that would-be converts be given a clear sense from the outset of the timeline and requirements for conversion, and that the conversion curriculum be standardized.

The review of the RCA’s Geirus Protocol and Standards (GPS) conversion process, announced last October two weeks after Rabbi Barry Freundel’s arrest, was designed to establish safeguards against rabbinic misconduct and included both women and converts.

Aside from his crimes of voyeurism, including having female conversion candidates take “practice dunks” in the mikvah ritual bath so he could record them naked on a hidden camera, Freundel had conversion candidates do free clerical work, kept prospective converts in the dark about how long their conversions could take and employed seemingly arbitrary benchmarks for judging candidates’ readiness for conversion. Converts say Freundel is not alone among conversion-sponsoring rabbis in using seemingly capricious timelines and standards for conversion, despite the RCA’s centralizing of Orthodox conversion in 2007 under its GPS system.

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

UNITED STATES
St. Louis Jewish Light

Uriel Heilman

There’s some tantalizingly interesting material in the final report of a committee charged with reviewing the way the Rabbinical Council of America, the country’s main Orthodox rabbinical association, deals with conversion.

Much comes from a survey of 439 Orthodox converts that provides the first-ever statistics about American Orthodox converts. Some comes from a survey of 107 rabbis who sponsor Orthodox conversions. A few other interesting nuggets are buried in the report itself.

Here are 10 I found interesting:

Of the RCA’s Orthodox converts:
78 percent are women
72 percent are ages 20-39
45 percent have Jewish ancestry
80 percent cite “spiritual-intellectual search” as their reason for converting

* About 85 percent of converts said the process of immersing naked in a mikvah ritual bath in the presence of three rabbinic witnesses was handled with sufficient modesty.

* About 57 percent said the experience was “filled with holiness and excitement that left little room for anything else,” 29 percent said it felt like a sanctified moment but a little uncomfortable, 12 percent said it was just awkward and uncomfortable and 2 percent said they resented it.

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

UNITED STATES
Times of Israel

JTA

A committee established by the Rabbinical Council of America to review its conversion processes has submitted its report featuring recommendations in nine areas of the process.

The review was put in place nine months ago after one of the RCA’s leading conversion rabbis, Barry Freundel, was arrested on voyeurism charges. Freundel was sentenced to 6½ years in prison for videotaping dozens of nude women at his former congregation’s ritual bath in Washington, DC.

The recommendations focused on support for conversion candidates during and after their conversions, professionalism, transparency of expectations, sensitivity to candidates, educational experiences, the responsibilities and support for rabbis and rabbinic judges, and oversight, supervision, and grievance processing.

“I am hopeful that this report will make it better for American conversion candidates going forward,” committee member Bethany Mandel said last week when presenting the report to the national convention of the RCA, the country’s main modern Orthodox rabbinic association. “The framework we’ve laid out here … is a great start, but it’s up to many of you in this room today to make sure that the spirit of these recommendations is carried out.”

Some 439 conversion participants from a pool of 835, along with 107 sponsoring rabbis in a pool of 216, responded to an anonymous survey. Five focus groups also were conducted in New York, Montreal and Washington, DC.

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

MICHIGAN
WSGW

Bishop Joseph Cistone of the Catholic Diocese of Saginaw has announced that a Mt. Pleasant priest has been placed on administrative leave. A statement from the diocese said Rev. Denis Heames, the Parochial Administrator of St. Mary University Parish, is on leave because of “boundary violations related to his priestly ministry.”

Bishop Cistone’s statement said the issue was “serious enough to require appropriate assessment and treatment, ” but that it “in no way involved minors.” Cistone said because people’s lives were affected, Father Heames “will need to address matters in a comprehensive way.” He said the diocese is making arrangements to ensure the Sacramental and administrative needs of the parish.

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

MICHIGAN
The Morning Sun

By Rick Mills, The Morning Sun

POSTED: 07/06/15

A Mt. Pleasant-based Catholic priest has been put on administrative leave for inappropriate behavior related to his ministry, church officials said in a press release.

The Rev. Denis M. Heames, priest at St. Mary’s University Parish, has been placed on administrative leave “due to boundary violations related to his priestly ministry,” said Bishop Joseph R. Cistone of the Saginaw Diocese.

“Last weekend, it was brought to my attention that Father Heames has been involved in boundary violations related to his priestly conduct serious enough to require appropriate assessment and treatment,” Cistone told parishioners at St. Mary University Parish.

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

UNITED STATES
The New York Times

The first Jesuit pope and the first non-European pope in more than 1,200 years, Francis has differed significantly from his predecessors with his outspoken style and his approach to leading the church. His comments on poverty, church reform, climate change and divorce have made headlines around the world. Here is a look at some of them. …

He Is Holding Bishops More Accountable for Sex Abuse

Francis approved the creation of a Vatican tribunal for judging bishops accused of covering up or failing to act in cases of child sexual abuse by priests, a step long demanded by victims in the more than three decades that the Roman Catholic Church has publicly dealt with the abuse scandal.

Until Francis, no pope had publicly confronted or demoted bishops accused of gross negligence.

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

OHIO
Road to Recovery

The Attorney General of Ohio needs to begin a state’s criminal investigation of the sexual abuse of minor children by Br. Stephen Baker, T.O.R. in much the same way the Pennsylvania Attorney General is investigating sexual abuse of minor children by Br. Stephen Baker and the Third Order Regular Franciscans of Hollidaysburg, PA

Br. Stephen Baker, who committed suicide in his Pennsylvania monastery, sexually abused more than 100 minor children in several states, including Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, and courageous victim/survivors continue to come forward to report their abuse and begin their healing

A second member of the Third Order Franciscans, Fr. David Kaczmarek, T.O.R., allegedly committed suicide recently in the Hollidaysburg, PA area in the midst of the investigation by the Pennsylvania Attorney General

What
A press conference calling on the Ohio Attorney General to commence a criminal investigation of the sexual abuse of minor children by Br. Stephen Baker, T.O.R, in Ohio, especially at John F. Kennedy High School in Warren, Ohio, St. Mary’s Middle School in Warren, Ohio, and possibly other towns and cities in Ohio, and the actions and policies of the Third Order Religious Franciscans based in Hollidaysburg, PA, who supervised Br. Stephen Baker and other Franciscan friars

When
Tuesday, July 7, 2015 at 11:00 am

Where
On the public sidewalk across from the headquarters of the Diocese of Youngstown, Ohio, 144 West Wood Street, Youngstown, Ohio 44503

Who
Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D., Co-founder and President of Road to Recovery, Inc., a non-profit charity that assists victims of sexual abuse and their families; Barbara Aponte of Poland, Ohio, mother of Luke Bradesku, a John F. Kennedy High School victim of Br. Stephen Baker who is deceased; and possibly two victims of Br. Stephen Baker who still live in the Warren, Ohio area.

Why
The Attorney General of Pennsylvania is currently conducting a criminal investigation of the Third Order Regular Franciscan friars religious order based in Hollidaysburg, PA as a result of dozens of credible allegations of sexual abuse against Br. Stephen Baker, T.O.R., at Bishop Mc Cort High School in Johnstown, PA and the surrounding area. Recently, another Franciscan friar, Fr. David Kaczmarek, T.O.R., committed suicide in a facility run by the Franciscan friars in Hollidaysburg, PA. Demonstrators will call on the Attorney General of Ohio to begin a criminal investigation of the sexual abuse of minor children by Br. Stephen Baker, T.O.R., in Ohio, and of the supervisors of Br. Stephen Baker who transferred him from Michigan to Ohio despite knowing about his history of sexual abuse of children in Michigan.

Contacts
Dr. Robert M. Hoatson, Road to Recovery, Inc. – Livingston, NJ 07039 – 862-368-2800
Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, Boston, MA – 617-523-6250

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

MICHIGAN
Central Michigan Life

By Sydney Smith

Father Denis Heames, priest at St. Mary’s University Parish, has been placed on administrative leave according to a press release from the Catholic Diocese of Saginaw.

“It greatly distresses me to know that any person entrusted to our care has been harmed by the minister of our church,” said Bishop Joseph Cistone.

Although the release does not disclose the details of why Heames was put on leave, Cistone points out that Heames’ actions “in no way involve minors.” He said the priest has been involved in “boundary violations” related to his priestly conduct. In the press release, Cistone said priests deal with weaknesses and sin as any other person.

Central Michigan Life reached out to St. Mary’s, who referred them to the Catholic Diocese of Saginaw.

“We can’t go into anything further,” said Erin Carlson, director of communications at the diocese. “I think the bishop just wanted the parishioners to know that (the involvement of minors) didn’t need to cross their minds.”

Church officials contacted President George Ross. Vice President of University Communications Sherry Knight said they did this as a courtesy. She did not have any further information on what was discussed.

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

UNITED STATES
Hamilton and Griffin on Rightsi

Here’s a modest (and admittedly unusual) suggestion to help prevent sex crimes in churches: How about a one year moratorium on “forgiveness” talk in clergy abuse cases?

I can already hear the chorus of objections. “What? You can’t be serious! Forgiveness is wonderful and healing and Christian!”

It’s true. Forgiveness is all of this and more. (Witness the salutary effects of the forgiveness shown by loved ones of the recent South Carolina church shooting.)

But it’s also sometimes a distraction from more pressing business. It’s sometimes exploited by self-serving officials who want to “turn the page” and “move on” from still-simmering scandals.

And it’s sometimes almost force-fed to victims, church staff and church members who should actually be focusing on proven prevention steps first.

Consider just a handful of examples.

WHAT WAS SAID:

A decade ago, Dallas Bishop Charles Grahmann “asked parishioners to forgive Fr. Matthew Bagert who, four days earlier, was arrested on charges of child pornography possession.” “When one fails, we also believe in forgiveness,” Grahmann said. “I ask that you open your arms and welcome him back. That’s what Jesus would have done.”

WHAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN SAID:

“Each person in this diocese has a moral and civic duty. It’s to help police and prosecutors learn the full truth about the charges against Fr. Matthew Bagert. Don’t even think about forgiveness. Think about what you may know or suspect or have seen or heard about possible misdeeds or crimes by Fr. Bangert. And if anything at all comes to mind, call law enforcement officials immediately so that justice may be done and innocence may be protected.”

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

MINNESOTA/IOWA
TH Online

Click here for the whole story.

Posted: Monday, July 6, 2015

BY THOMAS J. BARTON THOMAS.BARTON@THMEDIA.COM

Advocates for victims of clergy sexual abuse hope a new court ruling will shed light on how the longtime head of the Catholic Archdiocese of Dubuque handled abuse claims.

A Minnesota judge on June 22 issued a ruling allowing a clergy sex-abuse and cover-up lawsuit to move forward. The ruling states lawyers can proceed with a public-nuisance claim against the St. Cloud Diocese from a victim who claims to have been sexually abused by a priest. The move allows attorneys to investigate St. Cloud Diocese records and documents regarding all priests who have been accused of misconduct over decades.

The same legal approach has been successful in four other Minnesota dioceses, forcing church officials to disclose documents that had been hidden for decades.

A similar decision in 2013 involving the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis resulted in depositions of top church officials, the public release of thousands of pages of priest files and the release of a dozen additional names of sex abusers.

Former Archbishop Jerome Hanus headed the St. Cloud Diocese from 1987 to 1994 before becoming Archbishop of Dubuque, a position he held from 1995 until 2013. During his tenure in Dubuque, the archdiocese made payments totaling $17.5 million to 73 abuse victims for major settlements in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2013.

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

ST. LOUIS (MO)
One News Now

[Friends of Fr. Joseph Jiang web site]

Monday, July 6, 2015 | Charlie Butts (OneNewsNow.com)

An organization that represents victims of molestation in the Catholic Church claims an accused priest’s charges of libel and slander are false.

The priest, Joseph Jiang, serves the church in St. Louis under Archbishop Robert Carlson. He was accused of molesting a boy and a teenage girl, and after those charges against him were dropped, he filed a lawsuit against the accusers’ parents, police and the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP).

“In two different jurisdictions, two sets of police officers and two sets of prosecutors found these reports credible and filed criminal charges against Jiang,” explains David Clohessy, SNAP’s executive director. “There’s also a civil child sex abuse case against Jiang, and yet he feels compelled to go on the attack.”

Although the charges against the priest were dropped in both cases, Clohessy notes that one prosecutor has stated she hopes to refile them.

“I think it’s just disingenuous for Archbishop Robert Carlson or Father Joseph Jiang to pretend that this means he’s been exonerated,” the SNAP executive director laments. “In neither case when the charges were dropped did either prosecutor criticize victims, witnesses or whistleblowers or file any kind of charges of perjury or anything of the sort.”

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

UNITED STATES
The Baltimore Sun

By Neil Jaffee

The winds of change are blowing toward justice for childhood abuse survivors.

Childhood sexual abuse survivors who seek legal redress against their perpetrators share a common goal: a fair chance to establish the truth of what was done to them as children. No more, no less. But given the unfairness of our justice system’s disposition of survivor cases, that goal is elusive and too often unattainable. However, in the past several weeks, there have been developments that could advance incrementally the goal of survivors to obtain justice against their abusers.

First, prosecutors in Minnesota recently filed unprecedented criminal charges against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, as a corporation, accusing church leadership of failing to protect children from a known abusive priest. The criminal charges and accompanying civil petition allege that the archdiocese’s repeated mishandling of complaints against the priest was part of an institutional pattern of permitting predatory priests to continue working in the church and having access to children. The criminal charges consist of six misdemeanors, each carrying a maximum fine of $3,000. In other recent cases involving archdioceses, an individual church leader, rather than the entire archdiocese as an institution, was charged with failing to properly supervise abusive priests.

The investigation of the Minnesota archdiocese corroborated evidence arising from numerous civil cases against the archdiocese and priests filed by survivors after the state legislature enacted a law that opened a three-year window for filing lawsuits involving childhood sexual abuse claims that were previously barred by the statute of limitations. This led to official reports of sexual misconduct by priests and produced record evidence against the priests and the church leadership, culminating in the charges against the archdiocese. Only days after the criminal charges were filed, two of the archdiocese’s bishops resigned their posts. (A bill that would have increased the window to file suit in Maryland from seven years to 20 years after the victim turns 18 failed in the legislature this year.)

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

FLORIDA
Palm Beach Post

A voodoo priest from Sunrise has been arrested after he used his position to have sex with multiple women, and assaulted an underage girl, by telling them that he would cure their cursed and “bad spirits” by being cleansed, police say.

According to NBC Miami, Brogenet Cinor was arrested on June 19 after police said that he was having sex with multiple women by claiming he would help “cleanse” them. He was also charged with sexual battery of a child under 12, according to police.

NBC Miami reports that “the incident happened between 2009 and 2010 but was not reported until last September.”

According to the arrest report, Cinor had the young girl brought to meet him in a man-made structure in his backyard, where he had sex with the girl. Cinor afterwards took out his wallet and gave her money, the report said.

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

MICHIGAN
Roman Catholic Diocese of Saginaw

SAGINAW — The Most Rev. Joseph R. Cistone, Bishop of Saginaw, announced this weekend that the Rev. Denis M. Heames, Parochial Administrator of St. Mary University Parish, Mt. Pleasant, has been placed on administrative leave due to boundary violations related to his priestly ministry.

“Last weekend, it was brought to my attention that Father Heames has been involved in boundary violations related to his priestly conduct, serious enough to require appropriate assessment and treatment,” Bishop Cistone shared with parishioners at St. Mary University Parish last night. “It is important to assure you that these actions in no way involved minors. Nonetheless, peoples’ lives have been affected and Father Heames will need to address these matters in a comprehensive way. Consequently, this past week, I placed Father Heames on an administrative leave of absence.”

At this point in time, the diocese cannot address Father Heames’ future ministry. In the meantime, the diocese is making arrangements to ensure the Sacramental and administrative needs of the parish.
“Even as priests, we still deal with weaknesses and sin as any other person,” Bishop Cistone said. “It greatly distresses me to know that any person entrusted to our care has been harmed by a minister of our Church. The good news is that meaningful help and the grace of God are available to all of us.

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

MICHIGAN
Midland Daily News

Mon Jul 6, 2015

The Rev. Denis M. Heames, parochial administrator of St. Mary University Parish, Mount Pleasant, has been placed on administrative leave due to boundary violations related to his priestly ministry, Bishop Joseph R. Cistone, of the Saginaw Diocese, announced this weekend. The information was part of a press release released early Monday afternoon.

“Last weekend, it was brought to my attention that Father Heames has been involved in boundary violations related to his priestly conduct, serious enough to require appropriate assessment and treatment,” Cistone shared Sunday night with parishioners at St. Mary University Parish. “It is important to assure you that these actions in no way involved minors. Nonetheless, peoples’ lives have been affected and Father Heames will need to address these matters in a comprehensive way. Consequently, this past week, I placed Father Heames on an administrative leave of absence.”

As of now, the diocese will not address Heames’ future ministry. The diocese is making arrangements to ensure the needs of the parish are met, according to the press release.

“I ask that you keep in your prayers Father Heames and those who have been harmed in any way by his conduct,” Cistone stated in the release. “Pray for St. Mary University Parish that it will remain a place in which the love and mercy of Christ is proclaimed and lived. And, I humbly ask that you pray for me to have the wisdom and grace to be a good shepherd at this time as God would wish.”

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

SCOTALND
National Secular Society

Posted: Mon, 06 Jul 2015 by Keith Porteous Wood

Following the failed attempt to obstruct the historic child abuse inquiry in Scotland, Keith Porteous Wood exposes the continuing reluctance of the Catholic Church to face up to and pay for its crimes.

Two orders of nuns have sought and failed to frustrate the appointment of the chair of the Scottish child abuse inquiry. Maybe they hoped no one would notice their shocking record of heinous abuse and ponder on their motives. As could be expected from the Scottish Catholic hierarchy’s brazen and disgraceful record on denial and covering up abuse, it conspicuously did not distance itself from the appointment challenge.

A clue emerged when the Scottish Government appointed Susan O’Brien QC to lead its public inquiry into historical child abuse, which will have powers to force witnesses to give evidence and has committed itself to ensuring that abusers “face the full force of the law”.

For some reason, two orders of nuns, the Congregation of the Poor Sisters of Nazareth and the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent De Paul, challenged Ms O’Brien’s appointment, alleging fears of “apparent bias” on the flimsiest of grounds. The QC had acted for her clients only at a very late stage in a case brought against the Poor Sisters of Nazareth to argue a point of law. For these reasons, a judge dismissed the nuns’ challenge and Ms O’Brien will continue to lead the inquiry.

Nuns certainly have their uses, whether or not they are doing the bidding of the Church hierarchy. They managed to convince the Irish Government to indemnify them from what would have been a €1.2bn compensation debt over child abuse for a mere 10% of that sum, costing Irish taxpayers over €1bn that they should never have had to pay.

As the Irish Independent put it: “Two nuns held a pair of deuces while the most experienced minister in the Government folded a full-house in a winner-takes-all game of poker with the Catholic Church.”

And it is likely that little of even the paltry proportion promised was actually paid despite what was later revealed as the massive wealth of the religious orders.

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

UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Frances Perraudin
@fperraudin

Monday 6 July 2015

The Labour MP who helped expose the late Liberal MP Cyril Smith as a paedophile is to step back from campaigning against child sexual abuse to seek help for depression.

Simon Danczuk, who has been the MP for Rochdale since 2010, said victims’ accounts of their experiences of sexual abuse had left him unable to sleep and experiencing flashbacks.

“What I’ve experienced is nothing compared to what the victims themselves have experienced, so I feel a bit guilty that I get upset about some of this stuff,” Danczuk told BBC Radio 4’s the World at One on Monday.

“I would say I’ve been suffering from depression to the point where I’ve decided to seek help for that,” he said.

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

ILLINOIS
WGN

From John Wayne Gacy to Dennis Hastert, the lawyers explore notorious sexual abuse cases and accusations of sexual abuse.

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

UNITED KINGDOM
The Argus

A PRIEST and deputy headmaster at a community college “preyed” on two young boys for his “own sexual gratification” over a seven year period, a court has heard.

Christopher Howarth has appeared today before Hove Trial Centre accused of 20 counts of sexual activity with two boys between 2004 and 2011.

The 67-year-old is accused of engaging the teenage boys in sexual activity in return for up to £100 a time, computer games and mobile phone contracts.

Prosecutor Henrietta Paget said Mr Howarth had carried out “long-standing and entrenched sexual abuse” of the two boys.

The court heard that abuse was carried out in Mr Howarth’s study at his home in Rocks Park Road in Uckfield, in his school office, at a caravan Mr Howarth owned, in the car and on one occasion at the child’s home.

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

AUSTRALIA
7 News

By Annette Blackwell
July 6, 2015

More Catholic clergy convicted of child sex abuse will be called to give evidence as a royal commission tries to find out why more allegations are made against that church than any other institution.

There was criticism of the commission after the appearance at a hearing in Ballarat of Gerald Ridsdale, the defrocked Catholic priest who is in jail for multiple child sex offences spanning 20 years.

After the May hearing Jesuit priest and human rights lawyer Frank Brennan asked what possessed judge Peter McClellan to put Ridsdale in the witness box, “where he provided absolutely no credible, probative evidence, simply further traumatising his victims”.

At the weekend Justice McClellan said the commission gave considerable thought to the decision.

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

AUSTRALIA
The Australian

TESSA AKERMAN THE AUSTRALIAN JULY 07, 2015

The sex abuse royal commission will call more perpetrators to give evidence when it resumes the Ballarat public hearings later this year to further understand why the abuse occurred and how the institutions responded.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard evidence from serial abuser and former priest Gerald Ridsdale at Ballarat in May this year.

Commission chairman Peter McClellan said the evidence of perpetrators was of considerable significance in the commission’s work.

“They have a capacity to tell us of the relationship between themselves and more senior members of their institutions, including the bishop or archbishop if they come from a religious institution,” he said.

“They can tell us if others knew of their offending conduct and help us to understand how the church responded or failed to respond to that conduct.”

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

MALLORCA
El Aviso

[Abuse accusation against prior of Lluc.]

Vor wenigen Tagen hat ein ehemaliger Zögling des ehrwürdigen Klosters von Lluc am Fuße der Tramuntana im Norden der Insel eine Anzeige wegen des sexuellen Missbrauchs gegen den Prior erstattet. Der heute 35-jährige Mann fand mit zehn Jahren Aufnahme im, über die Grenzen Spaniens hinaus bekannten Knabenchor »Los Blauets«, der Glaubenskongregation des Heiligen Herzens Jesu. Wie aus einem Schreiben an das Bistum Mallorca hervorgeht, wurde er ab seinem 13. Lebensjahr mehrfach sexuell missbraucht. Da er im schuleigenen Internat untergebracht war, konnte sich der Junge nicht gegen die Übergriffe durch den Priester wehren. Auch forderte der Anwalt die Kirchenoberen von Mallorca auf, den abtrünnigen Seelsorger so schnell wie möglich vom Dienst zu suspendieren. Auch eine Strafanzeige sei erfolgt.

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

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Barbara Blaine | Jul. 6, 2015
30 years later

Editor’s note: This story is part of a weeklong series dedicated to looking back on 30 years of the abuse crisis in the Catholic church. Read all parts of the series.

A single issue of NCR changed the course of my life and eventually led to my starting an international movement of survivors of clergy abuse. I am extremely grateful to NCR!

In the summer of 1985, I was a Catholic Worker at a house of hospitality in Chicago filled with about 30 mentally ill men and women. Many more crossed the threshold of the dining room at mealtimes. There were not many quiet moments, but when a quiet afternoon did present itself, I used it to read through a stack of old newspapers and magazines, and I came across the June 7, 1985, issue of NCR.

I was shocked to see an article by Jason Berry about a priest sexually abusing altar boys. As I read, my breathing became heavy. Before reaching the end of the article, I became sick and ran to the bathroom. I learned later that experience is called an anxiety attack.

The article also triggered nightmares, flashbacks, moments of terror, and uncontrollable tears and anger. I was confused and my normal routine disrupted. It was a personal crisis I felt ill-equipped to handle.

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

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

NCR Staff | Jul. 6, 2015 NCR Today
30 years later

1962: Fr. Gerald Fitzgerald, founder of the Paraclete Center to aid troubled priests in Jimenez Springs, N.M., meets with Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani, head of the Holy Office in Rome, to warn him that there is no cure for pedophile priests.

1964: Fitzgerald meets with the new pope, Paul VI, to repeat his warnings.

1985: In May, Dominican Fr. Thomas Doyle, Fr. Michael Peterson and Ray Mouton present a 92-page document to a committee of the U.S. bishops’ conference, warning them to handle pending cases well, defend victims, and be honest with the public.

In June, NCR publishes its first exposé and editorial on sex abuse crisis. The story is based on Jason Berry’s reporting of the case of Fr. Gilbert Gauthe of Lafayette, La., who ultimately served 10 years of a 20-year sentence for molesting children.

1988: Barbara Blaine in Chicago starts the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).

1992: U.S. bishops approve guidelines for handling sex abuse cases, but the guidelines are voluntary and not universally applied. They are later viewed as a failure.

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

CANADA
Law Times

Monday, 06 July 2015 08:00

Written By Tali Folkins

Up to six lawyers may be appearing before the Law Society Tribunal in the near future as the regulator investigates 33 complaints related to settlements of Indian residential schools claims.

The information comes as the case against one lawyer got underway last week, but the numbers are down from a previous report that the Law Society of Upper Canada was investigating up to 10 lawyers.

“Prior to 2013, the law society received very few complaints relating to the Indian residential schools settlement process,” law society chief executive officer Robert Lapper noted last November in a report to Convocation.

“Since that time, however, we have been receiving more complaints by Indian residential school survivors against their lawyers. There are currently 50 complaints about 10 lawyers from Indian residential school survivors in the intake and investigation process.”

One such lawyer now facing a disciplinary process is Douglas Keshen. The law society’s notice of application accuses Keshen of a number of acts of professional misconduct, including failing to pay 17 Indian residential school clients their full settlements within a reasonable period of time after receiving them; transferring approximately $45,000 of the settlement funds for 17 clients from his trust account to his general account “without any legal entitlement to the monies;” transferring to himself three sums ranging from $6,500 to $7,520.05 from the settlement funds of three clients; and transferring about $119,300 from one client’s settlement funds to that person’s power of attorney “when it was apparent that all of the monies transferred were not for the benefit” of that client.

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

UNITED KINGDOM
Family Law

Researching Reform: Child abuse inquiry – will the recent guidance on the destruction of documents be enough to preserve valuable evidence?

Natasha Phillips

When Home Secretary Theresa May announced the statutory inquiry into child sexual abuse, she also requested a moratorium on the destruction of materials relating to child protection matters. In line with that request, Chair for the Inquiry Justice Goddard issued guidance on the disposal of materials relating to child protection concerns. But in the wake of documents on child sexual abuse at Gordonstoun School in Scotland, which have now mysteriously gone missing, what impact will this guidance have and can it protect any remaining documents in existence which shed light on child abuse in England and Wales?

On 23 June 2015, the Inquiry sent out further instructions on what may or may not be destroyed by Government and other agencies whose remits involve the detection, investigation and, or, prevention of child abuse. The guidance was contained within letters which were sent to the Cabinet Secretary, as well as all religious leaders, the NHS, the Police Force and Local Authority CEOs. The letters set out the kinds of documents which must be kept pending requests from the Inquiry itself.

As the Inquiry’s terms of reference are so broad and the panel are not quite sure what they’re looking for just yet, the guidance itself is not confined to a small cross section of materials but attempts to capture types of documentation instead, with the hope of acting much like a large dragnet, catching as much detail as it can.

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

INDIANA
WNDU

[with video]

By: Megan Hickey

After a loophole in Indiana’s rape law let a confessed rapist walk free, one Indiana woman pushed for a change that will affect the lives of future sexual abuse victims for years to come.

The victim, Jenny Wendt Ewing, shared her difficult story with NewsCenter16 in the hopes of educating future Hoosier victims about the laws in their home state.

Ewing’s story goes back to April of 2005 when she was a nursing student at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis.

The then 26-year-old Ewing went on two dates with a man named Bart Bareither who was formerly her physiology lab professor.

The couple saw live music on the first date and toured a winery on the second.

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

INDIANA
WNDU

[with video]

By: Megan Hickey

Last year, a 39-year-old Indiana man confessed to raping an Indianapolis nursing student back in 2005. But nine years after the incident, the victim, Jenny Wendt Ewing, couldn’t press charges thanks to Indiana’s 5-year statute of limitations.

“I feel he was asking for help,” Ewing told NewsCenter16. “I’m not angry with him. I’m angry with the system.”

When lawmakers heard Ewing’s story, they pushed to pass legislation this spring that would close that loophole.

The changes in that amendment, now known as “Jenny’s Law,” goes into effect this month.

“Her story made it clear that there are different things that are going on that may increase the need for more time in order to prosecute cases,” explained Aimee Herring, Lead Deputy Prosecutor, Special Victims Unit of the St. Joseph Co. Prosecutors Office.

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

INDIANA
WNDU

Challenging Indiana’s Rape Law – Part 1: When a rapist goes free

Challenging Indiana’s Rape Law – Part 3: “Jenny’s Law” and Michiana victims

By: Megan Hickey

Changes to Indiana’s rape law passed this spring closed some serious loopholes when it comes to the state’s statute of limitations.

One of those technicalities allowed an Indiana woman’s confessed rapist to walk free in 2014.

Still, some victims argue that the law doesn’t go far enough.

At least 20 states and several territories have no statute of limitations when it comes to reporting and prosecuting rape and sexual assault cases.

Indiana victims have just 5 years — unless new evidence is brought forward or a confession is made, thanks to recent legislation.

Some victims argue that putting a limit on prosecution does more to protect Indiana’s rapists than the victims themselves.

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

MAINE
Bangor Daily News

By Judy Harrison, BDN Staff
Posted July 05, 2015

PORTLAND, Maine — A civil trial set to begin Monday could justify claims that a former Catholic brother in Haiti sexually abused orphans for years or prove that a zealous advocate for victims of clergy sexual abuse has been defaming Michael Geilenfeld so vehemently that he was wrongfully imprisoned for 237 days.

Geilenfeld, 63, of Port au Prince, Haiti, and Hearts with Haiti, a North Carolina-based nonprofit that raised money for the orphanages he ran, sued Paul Kendrick, 65, of Freeport in February 2013 in U.S. District Court. The plaintiffs claimed Kendrick’s false allegations that Geilenfeld, an Iowa native, sexually abused children has defamed the organization and caused fundraising events to be canceled.

The civil complaint was amended after Geilenfeld’s release from a Haitian jail to include a request for additional damages because of his “horrific experiences in prison.” In a pre-trial brief filed last month, Geilenfeld’s attorney, Peter DeTroy of Portland, claimed his client’s damages “far exceed[ed] $10 million.” The charity has claimed losses of more than $2 million in donations, according to court documents.

Kendrick in April was sanctioned by U.S. District Judge John Woodcock for publicly sharing documents that had been gathered during the discovery process. The Freeport man has claimed that beginning in 2011 he spoke out through emails and on a colleague’s blog out of concern for the children in the Haitian orphanages after meeting with alleged victims in the United States.

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

AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

VICTIMS of institutionalised child sexual abuse are so haunted by their past, going into aged care homes is not an option, Commissioner Helen Milroy says.

Ms Milroy says the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has highlighted the risk of people taking their own lives if they needed to go into an aged care facility, particularly those who were in large orphanages as children.

“A lot of people have said with us they will not go back into care, they cannot go back into care and they do not see that as an option for them,” Ms Milroy told a conference in Perth on Monday.

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

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Caitlin Hendel | Jul. 6, 2015 NCR Today

Editor Dennis Coday is in Buffalo, N.Y., for the Catholic Press Association’s annual conference. In his absence, I agreed to write this column, always willing to take advantage of a good opportunity to promote what we do here at NCR.

Dennis and his team made it especially easy for me this week.

Let’s start with Pope Francis’ historic encyclical, released June 18, “Laudato Si’, Care for our common home.” What you’re seeing here in this edition of National Catholic Reporter represents a culmination of months’ worth of work, preparing for the much-anticipated letter, followed by dozens of news stories and analytical pieces that began with the unofficial leak of an Italian draft of the document on Monday, June 15. …

And, unlike what you’ll find with many other publications, NCR hopes to continue the conversation on the encyclical, on climate change and its effect on the poor, and on the role of the church and of Catholics around the world in heeding Francis’ call “for changes of lifestyle, production and consumption, in order to combat this warming or at least the human causes which produce or aggravate it.”

Speaking of enduring (sadly so) conversations, it’s been 30 years since National Catholic Reporter ran Jason Berry’s monumental story of Gilbert Gauthe, a Louisiana priest whose years of sexual abuse of boys — and the lack of interest among supervisory clergy in dealing with him — led to a $4 million-plus settlement with the victims’ families.

“These are serious and damaging matters that have victimized the young and innocent,” NCR said in an essay that opened its multipage package in the June 7, 1985, issue. “But a related and broader scandal seemingly rests with local bishops and a national episcopal leadership that has, as yet, no set policy on how to respond to those cases.”

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

IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Conall Ó Fátharta
Irish Examiner Reporter

A woman who was in Cork’s Bessborough Mother and Baby Home in 1975 has described the nuns who ran the institution as “evil monsters”.

She was made sign adoption forms to give up her child despite being under the legal age of consent.

The woman, who still lives in Cork and asks not to be identified, is still in possession of a calendar given to her on entering the institution, where she marked off the months she stayed.

She sent a letter to this newspaper following an Irish Examiner two-day special investigation into Mother and Baby Homes.

Simply signed ‘M’, the woman said her experience in Bessborough in 1975 “had a lasting effect on my life” and, only in recent months, she had found “the courage to seek counselling to try and rid myself of some of the guilt I have felt for the past 40 years”.

She described the fear she had entering Bessborough as a pregnant teenager: “When I arrived in Bessborough in February 1975, I was 16-years-old with no idea of what was ahead of me.

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

MAINE
Ignatius Group

Monday July 6, 2015

9:00 a.m. / Jury Selection / Magistrate Judge John H. Rich III

12:00 p.m. / Opening Statements / Plaintiffs’ First Witness / Judge John A. Woodcock, Jr.

We will publish a schedule of the next day’s witnesses by 4:00 pm each day.

Plaintiffs expect to present witnesses for two weeks, followed by one week for Defendant’s presentation.

U.S. District Court
156 Federal Street
Portland, Maine 04101
207-780-3356
http://www.med.uscourts.gov/

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

ROM
Die Presse

[Fathers and nuns from Italian religious embezzling funds on a large scale and their hospitals almost driven into bankruptcy. Entangled is also a Cardinal.]

Patres und Nonnen aus italienischen Orden haben im großen Stil Mittel veruntreut und ihre Krankenhäuser fast in den Ruin getrieben. Verwickelt ist auch ein Kardinal: Warum hat er dem Papst 30 Millionen Euro verheimlicht?

27.06.2015 | 18:57 | Paul Kreiner aus Rom (Die Presse)

Es braucht schon einen speziellen geistlichen Humor, um eine Klinik für Hautkrankheiten nach der Unbefleckten Jungfrau Maria zu benennen. Söhne der Immacolata nennt sich auch der Orden, der die fachlich hoch renommierten IDI-Spitäler in Rom seit mehr als einem Jahrhundert betreibt. Doch unbefleckt stehen die Brüder von heute nicht da. Ganz im Gegenteil: Die Oberen sind mit der Kasse durchgebrannt. Der Chef, Pater Franco Decaminada, hat sich ein Luxuslandhaus in der Toskana gekauft. Dazu kamen etliche nicht ganz billige Autos, Bargeldabhebungen von 82 Mio. Euro und verschwiegene Konten in Panama, in Liechtenstein und der Isle of Man.

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

UNITED STATES
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on July 5, 2015

One of my closest friends once told me, “When you really think about it, bullying is just low-level sexual abuse.” That thought stuck with me.

What also stuck with me is how prevention of bullying is similar to the prevention of child sexual abuse. It requires good communication, strong self-esteem, and engaged parents who understand the depth of the problem.

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

AUSTRALIA
The West Australian

Gabrielle Knowles
July 6, 2015

Children as young as four and their parents will be educated about sex abuse and prevention in what is believed to be a world-first under a major program being launched by the Perth Archdiocese of the Catholic Church.

Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe said the Safeguarding Project would have at least two trained “safeguarding” officers in all 105 Perth parishes to run programs for families and be a point of contact for people with concerns.

Police Sen. Sgt Andrea Musulin, who is co-ordinating the project and training the volunteers, clergy and other church personnel, said it was crucial children were taught and empowered to protect themselves and to speak up.

“If a child has no age appropriate and developmentally appropriate knowledge of sex … then they have no knowledge to draw from with which to resist and thereby prevent an offence,” she said.

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

MINNESOTA
Dairyland Peach

July 5, 2015

Minnesota has experienced a horrific parade of violence against children in recent years. Just last week, we learned of the death of Sophia O’Neill, age 2, of Minneapolis, stomped to death allegedly by her mother’s boyfriend, age 17.

The disappearance of Barway Collins, of Crystal in March captivated the state until his body was found and his father was charged with his murder.

The murder of Pope County’s Eric Dean, age 4, after 15 reports to the county of possible abuse went unaddressed, caused the Legislature to act.

And coming out in a trickle have been years of pedophile attacks by Roman Catholic priests, of which 179 in Minnesota alone have been accused.

It is easy to become angry at the accused and the convicted, to send them to prison and pretend that we have accomplished something. However, we have a major public health issue confronting us, and are nowhere close to solving it. The reported crimes are just the tip of the iceberg. …

n the wake of Eric Dean’s death, Gov. Mark Dayton formed a task force to review the state’s child protection efforts. It returned with 93 recommendations.

The Legislature responded by enacting several changes:

• Law enforcement must now review every report of alleged child abuse, even if the report was received initially by social services.

• A provision that kept child protection teams from looking at previously screened out reports was repealed.

• The priority for action was changed from keeping a family together to putting the safety of the child foremost.

• An additional $52 million was appropriated, most of which will go directly to hire more child protection workers. Currently, the caselo

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

SOUTH AMERICA
The New York Times

Pope Francis’ Visit to Latin America Will Test His Ability to Keep Catholics in the Fold

By WILLIAM NEUMAN
JULY 4, 2015

QUITO, Ecuador — Pope Francis has turned heads with bold stands on climate change and income inequality. He helped broker a historic thaw between the United States and Cuba. He has shaken up the stodgy brand of the Roman Catholic Church.

But for all his forays into international diplomacy and deftness at image-making, his trip to South America, which begins Sunday, will test his skills in what could be a much more difficult task: putting parishioners in pews and keeping them there.

When Francis was named pope in March 2013, becoming the first pontiff from Latin America, he was hailed by many as the kind of figure long needed by the Catholic Church to appeal to its vast base in poorer countries. …

The church has also been hurt by revelations of sexual abuse of children by priests. Francis has spoken out strongly on the topic, and he recently approved the creation of a tribunal to judge bishops accused of covering up or ignoring cases of sexual abuse. But in Chile, he has been fiercely criticized for naming as bishop a priest who was closely associated with a cleric at the center of a notorious sexual abuse scandal.

Although the countries that Francis will visit share in these regional trends, they have generally seen a more limited shift away from the Catholic Church, according to the Pew survey.

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

AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher, article updated 1 July 2015

Former Catholic priest John Joseph Farrell appeared in Sydney’s Central Local Court on 30 June 2015, charged with 26 sexual offences which were allegedly committed against five boys between 1981 and 1984 in northern New South Wales. According to court documents, some of these 26 offences allegedly occurred while Father Farrell was based at the Moree parish (within the Armidale Catholic diocese); and some allegedly occurred when Father Farrell visited a parish at Tweed Heads (in the Lismore diocese) on the NSW north coast. This court case is confined to these five children (and these 26 charges) and it does not include any charges which Farrell might face regarding any other children.

Father John Joseph Farrell worked as a Catholic priest in the 1980s and the early 1990s. He later lived at a private address in the town of Armidale until late 2012. More recently, he has been living in the Harden area (between Young and Yass) in southern NSW.

In late June 2015 John Joseph Farrell was arrested at Harden by a Sydney-based specialist team of detectives from the Sex Crime Squad of the NSW Police. Police charged him with the 26 alleged offences, with no police bail. On June 25, he was taken in custody to a local court (at Wagga in southern NSW) to enable these 26 charges to be officially filed. Farrell entered the courtroom with two Corrective Services officers. Two specialist detectives were present in court.

In the June 25 hearing, Farrell’s lawyer applied for a media-suppression order which would prevent Farrell’s name from being published. He said that Farrell could be placed in danger if his identity were made public. He said the type of charges laid against Farrell generated vilification and outrage in the community.

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

AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher (article updated 2 July 2015)

Many years ago, Broken Rites began researching “Brother Gabriel Mount”, who had worked in Catholic children’s homes conducted by the St John of God Brothers in New South Wales and Victoria. We discovered that he eventually became a priest (“Father Roger Mount”), working in Papua New Guinea. In October 2014 he was brought back to Australia, where Victorian police charged him with multiple child-sex offences allegedly committed within Victoria. He is in custody in Victoria, where a magistrate has committed Mount to face a trial (due to begin on 3 July 2015). New South Wales police, also, are investigating Father Mount concerning incidents that are alleged to have occurred in NSW.

Broken Rites research ascertained that, early in his church career (in the 1960s and 1970s), Roger Mount was listed in the annual editions of the Australian Catholic Directory as Brother “Gabriel” Mount, a member of a Catholic religious order called the St John of God Brothers. (When men joined this religious order, they normally adopted an ancient “saintly” name – hence Brother “Gabriel”.)

Later, Brother “Gabriel” Mount transferred to Papua New Guinea, where he left the St John of God order and became a diocesan priest. He reverted to his birth name, becoming Father Roger Mount, and was attached to the Diocese of Port Moresby. He reached a senior rank in this diocese. His most recent parish, Sogeri, is on the southern end of PNG’s famous Kokoda Track.

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

IRELAND
Sunday World

By Steven Moore

Paedophile priest Fr Brendan Smyth paid off one of his child sex abuse victims with cash he made from selling mass cards, we can reveal.

The Sunday World has learned that the notorious paedo cleric made a $20,000 money transfer to a victim he had abused in Langdon, North Dakota.

The money was paid to a 12-year-old boy who had been raped by Smyth during his time in the United States – where he was sent by the Catholic Church following abuse allegations in Ireland.

And Smyth, who abused hundreds of children over a 40-year period, is believed to have used cash he ‘earned’ from a lucrative mass card operation he ran.

Evil Smyth fooled parishioners into buying his specially signed cards – which would cost five punts at the time – by claiming the money was going to missions.

“It’s more evidence of just how low Brendan Smyth could stoop,” said a source.

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

IRELAND
Irish Independent

Maeve Sheehan
PUBLISHED
05/07/2015

RTE could be facing further legal bills from the Mission to Prey programme that has already clocked up an estimated bill of €2m in costs, fees and fines for the state broadcaster.

The broadcaster settled a legal action last week taken by former Archbishop of Benin, Richard Burke, who claimed he was defamed in the Prime Time documentary at a cost of €338,000.

While RTE did not pay him damages, the Sunday Independent has learnt that the broadcaster has agreed to pay €275,000 towards Richard Burke’s legal fees, plus €53,000 in VAT. RTE had said it made a “contribution” to his costs, but Mr Burke’s lawyer said his client had “no exposure” to costs.

It was the second settlement arising from the Prime Time Mission to Prey programme, broadcast in 2011. Fr Kevin Reynolds had already received a confidential settlement – rumoured to be more than €1m between damages and legal fees – when he sued over false accusations that he raped a Kenyan teenager and fathered her child.

A third cleric, Bishop Philip Sulumeti, from Kenya, also instigated legal action against the broadcaster, claiming that he too was defamed in the programme. Robert Dore, the solicitor who acted for Fr Kevin Reynolds and for the former Archbishop Burke, is also representing Bishop Sulumeti.

Bishop Sulumeti has claimed that his inclusion in the Mission to Prey programme damaged his good name and his reputation. He was depicted as defending Fr Reynolds, whom RTE had wrongly accused of rape.

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

AUSTRALIA
Stuff

BRIAN HOUSTON

“It’s not about you – it’s about your father.” These words introduced me to a nightmare that would change my life. I was 45 years old and what developed after that sentence was a product of someone else’s past that would frame so much of my future.

It was October 1999, and I was senior pastor of Hillsong Church, which my wife Bobbie and I had started from scratch in 1983 in a humble warehouse in northwest Sydney. From that beginning it had grown to a weekly attendance of thousands, and that year we’d been asked to take over the Sydney Christian Life Centre that my parents had founded in 1977 after we emigrated from New Zealand. I was also national president of Assemblies of God, the Pentecostal church umbrella organisation overseeing more than 1100 churches.

On that spring day the general manager of Hillsong, George Aghajanian, with whom I’ve worked for many years, sat across from me in our weekly meeting. We moved through the agenda quickly; I thought we might wrap up early, so I could get in a quick jog. But then George looked at me and said, “There’s just one more thing, Brian.” He hesitated, and I sensed he had something important to tell me; the look in his eyes suggested it was not going to be good news.

“It’s not about you,” he said. “It’s about your father.” My heart pounded, and it felt as if all the blood drained from my face. George told me of a phone call to our office: the caller said he’d recently been ministering at a local church where a lady confided in him a secret she’d carried for years: “Frank Houston sexually abused my son.”

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

UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

By MARTIN BECKFORD FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY
PUBLISHED: 4 July 2015

The scandal-hit inquiry into child abuse has already cost taxpayers more than £1.2 million – before it has questioned a single witness.

In the year since it was set up by David Cameron to examine claims of VIP paedophile rings and Establishment cover-ups, the inquiry has been mired in controversy.

The first two chairmen were forced to quit and an expert panel was scrapped amid infighting. There have been no public hearings, only a handful of meetings have been held with victims, and officials have only just got around to warning Whitehall not to destroy incriminating evidence.

But as Justice Lowell Goddard, the New Zealand judge drafted in to get a grip on the troubled investigation, prepares to officially launch its work with a public statement this week, The Mail on Sunday can reveal the staggering costs incurred in its first nine months – equivalent to almost £5,000 a day.

Among the costs is the £177,000 paid to a human-rights barrister who has effectively been running the inquiry behind the scenes.

Keith Vaz, chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, said last night: ‘These are quite large figures for an inquiry launched a year ago which has not yet taken any formal evidence. The committee will monitor developments and progress and has every confidence in Judge Goddard’s ability to progress matters.

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

IRELAND
The Sunday Times

Justine McCarthy
Published: 5 July 2015

RTE’S Mission to Prey programme has now cost the state-owned broadcaster more than €1.5m in libel damages, legal costs, and penalties.

The bill does not include payments to the station’s own lawyers, witness expenses, or costs incurred by four separate inquiries resulting from the programme broadcast in 2011.

Last Thursday, the broadcaster settled a second High Court defamation case arising from the Prime Time Investigates programme at a cost of €338,000, including VAT.

The libel suit was taken by Richard Burke, a former Catholic archbishop from Co Tipperary, who claimed he was wrongly depicted as a child sex abuser in the programme.

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

MINNESOTA
Post-Bulletin

Posted: Saturday, July 4, 2015

Al Depman, letter@postbulltin.com

Three emotions pass through me as I read the ongoing coverage of the leadership collapse in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis: sadness, revulsion and hopefulness.

Sadness because my upbringing, education and philosophical underpinnings are all Catholic. Catholic grade school, high school and the University of Notre Dame provided 16 consecutive years of Catholic influence, leaving me with a sense that the priesthood was my calling. The church was steeped in tradition, art, history and had a global infrastructure that I found a neat complement to the United Nations. The daily Latin mass was a mysterious ritual, especially to this curious altar boy. I still have my Mass card and can by rote respond to the priest’s cues.

So I decided to enter the seminary. However, at 18, I fell in love with a young lady and realized I couldn’t combine marriage and priesthood. I marveled at the time how disciplined and special those called to the priesthood must be to stay single and chaste.

Shortly thereafter, this image collapsed.

Revulsion courses through me as I re-read the lawsuits my two younger brothers filed against the Diocese of Camden, NJ,, in 1994 as part of a group of 18 plaintiffs alleging they were sexually abused by priests from 1967 through 1970 and contending the church tolerated such conduct for decades and conspired to cover it up.

Re-reading the painful, graphic testimony and remembering how the parish priests ingratiated themselves with our family, sharing dinners, parties and trips fills me with pain. The priests used their holy positions as leverage to seduce my parents into completely trusting them and simultaneously sexually seducing my brothers. Their lawsuit was dismissed in 2002 because it exceeded the statute of limitations and the Superior Court judge wouldn’t issue an exception.

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

AUSTRALIA
The Age

Henrietta Cook, Timna Jacks

Police are being called to Victorian schools three times a week to investigate sex offences that are often perpetrated by children.

The revelation comes amid reports of a surge in the number children sexually abusing other children in the wider community that has been linked by treatment services to family violence and pornography.

New data from the Crime Statistics Agency data shows 170 sexual offences were committed in Victorian state, independent and Catholic school grounds last year, including 41 during school hours.

With around 80 per cent of offenders 18-years-old or under, experts say schools are struggling with the controversial issue.

Angela Sdrinis, who runs a law firm that specialises in institutional abuse, said she was receiving more reports of child-on-child sexual abuse in schools.

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

AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Australian Associated Press
Saturday 4 July 2015

The chair of the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse is worried there will not be enough time for all victims to tell their story, despite a two-year extension to the inquiry.

Justice Peter McClellan says the royal commission has already held more than 3,600 private sessions since it began in April 2013.

Informal private sessions are held in conjunction with public hearings.

The sessions allow abuse victims to speak directly with the inquiry’s commissioners.

McClellan expects 7,000 private sessions will be held by the time the royal commission is completed in December 2017.

The inquiry’s original term was extended by two years in 2014 after it warned it needed more time and money.

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

VATICAN CITY
News 24

2015-07-04 13:09

Vatican City – The Roman Catholic Church should not have “leaders for life” in its ranks, otherwise it would risk being like a country under dictatorship, Pope Francis said on Friday.

Francis, 78, has said before that he would be ready to resign instead of ruling for life if he felt he could not continue running the 1.2 billion-member Church for health or other reasons.

“Let’s be clear. The only one who cannot be substituted in the Church is the Holy Spirit,” the Argentinian-born pontiff said in an address to some 30 000 people at an inter-denominational rally of Christians in St. Peter’s Square.

“There should be a time limit to positions (in the Church), which in reality are positions of service,” he said in an address that was in part prepared and in part extemporaneous.

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

ARGENTINA
El Liberal

[Mons Puiggari. “In the Church there is no place for pedophiles.”]

Publicado el 04/07/2015 – El arzobispo de Paraná, monseñor Juan Alberto Puiggari, aseguró que “en la Iglesia no hay lugar para pedófilos” tras el escándalo mediático generado en torno al juicio que se sigue al sacerdote Justo José Ilarraz por presunto abuso sexual y las recientes acusaciones dirigidas a otro presbítero por presunta corrupción de menores.

Monseñor Puiggari sentenció que en la Iglesia local “no hay lugar para pedófilos” y “lo que más se quiere es defender la verdad”.

El prelado explicó por qué la jueza Paola Firpo lo visitó en la curia local. La magistrada quería confirmar si una carta escrita a máquina en 1993, acompañada de su firma y dirigida al cura Ilarraz, era verdaderamente suya. “La jueza vino, me mostró la carta y le confirmé que sí. Y gracias a Dios, esa carta de comienzos de marzo de aquel año coincide con lo que venimos diciendo desde la Iglesia”, dijo el arzobispo, que por esos años estaba a cargo del seminario local.

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

ARGENTINA
Tucuma Noticias

[The Bishop of Parana acknowledged a letter he sent to Ilarraz in March 1993.]

Una comitiva encabezada por la titular del Juzgado de Transición N° 2, Paola Firpo, concurrió en la tarde de ayer a la sede del Arzobispado de Paraná para cumplir con una nueva medida probatoria en el marco de la causa que enfrenta el cura Justo José Ilarraz por presuntos abusos sexuales contra pupilos que cursaban sus estudios en el Seminario Arquidiocesano, donde el exprefecto de disciplina tenía un importante rol dentro de la comunidad educativa.

La visita al corazón de la curia paranaense tuvo como objetivo que el arzobispo Juan Alberto Puiggari -prefecto mayor del Seminario cuando ocurrieron los hechos- reconozca una carta que le envió a Ilarraz el 17 de marzo de 1993.

El prelado atendió a la magistrada en un despacho lindero a la librería San Francisco Javier: allí se le exhibió la correspondencia, de color amarillento, la cual denotaba el paso del tiempo. Si bien Puiggari no recordaba la carta ni su contenido, reconoció que estaba firmada de su puño y letra.

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

DEUTSCHLAND
Publik-Forum

[A priest from the diocese of Aachen was convicted in February for sexual abuse and given six years imprisonment. The abuse was uncovered only because courageous parents raised the alarm from the German community in Johannesburg, South Africa. To date, they are waiting for an apology from the German Bishops’ Conference.]

Ein Pfarrer aus dem Bistum Aachen ist im Februar wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs zu sechs Jahren Haft verurteilt worden. Aufgedeckt werden konnten die Taten nur, weil couragierte Eltern aus der deutschen Gemeinde im südafrikanischen Johannesburg Alarm geschlagen hatten. Sie beschuldigten den Pfarrer, sich mit Jungen ins Bett gelegt zu haben. Bis heute warten sie auf eine Entschuldigung der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz

»Wir haben verstanden.« Dieses Signal sendeten die katholischen Bischöfe aus, als sie im Laufe des Jahres 2010 mit zahlreichen Missbrauchsfällen durch katholische Geistliche konfrontiert waren. Keine Toleranz mehr gegenüber Tätern, keine Vertuschung von Missbrauchsfällen und Hilfen für Überlebende sexueller Gewalt wurden versprochen. Aber wenn es um die Anerkenntnis von Schuld und Verantwortung in konkreten Fällen geht, tun sich die katholischen Hierarchen nach wie vor schwer – und das selbst in der Zentrale der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz.

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

OREGON
Oregon Catalyst

Salem, OR – A bill that would refer the issue of eliminating the statute of limitations for rape to the 2016 general election ballot was introduced in the Oregon Senate Thursday by Senator Tim Knopp (R-Bend) and Representative Jodi Hack (R-Salem).

Senate Bill 973 would allow for prosecution of first degree sex crimes to be commenced at any time instead of being restricted by the statute of limitations. Proponents of the measure believe this would give sexual abuse victims a greater opportunity for justice since many sexual abuse victims go years before telling others what happened.

The bill comes after an earlier piece of legislation was passed this legislative session extending the statute of limitations for first degree sex crimes from six to twelve years. Although the bill, HB 2317 A, received unanimous support from both legislative houses, many legislators still believe the bill did not go far enough.

“While extending the statute of limitations for sexual abuse crimes to twelve years is better than what we currently have, the original hope for [HB 2317] was a 20 year statute of limitations,” said Knopp. “I decided to introduce SB 973 now because I believe victims of rape and sexual abuse deserve every opportunity for justice.”

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

IRELAND
The Argus

Anne Campbell
PUBLISHED
04/07/2015

A Dundalk man abused by paedophile priest Brendan Smyth says the former cardinal’s latest apology to victims is ‘weak and feeble’ and barriers are still being put up against victims by the Catholic Church.

Brendan Boland, from Marian Park, was a victim of Ireland’s most notorious child abuser but bravely spoke out about what happened to him in the early 1970s. However, the then Father Sean Brady was one of the clerics involved in swearing Mr Boland, and another teen, to silence when the victims gave evidence to an investigative panel of priests at the Friary in 1975. Smyth continued to abuse children until he was jailed in 1994.

On Thursday last, the former All-Ireland primate Sean Brady told the North’s Historical Abuse Inquiry that ‘there was a shroud of secrecy and confidentiality with a view not to destroying the good name of the church’ and Smyth had committed ‘unspeakable’ crimes.

The Cardinal said: ‘The scandal that somebody who was ordained to serve people should so abuse the trust for their own pleasure was appalling and it was. To offset that, the scandal was kept a secret – very, very secret. Everybody involved would be bound to secrecy too’.

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

MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

By Jean Hopfensperger Star Tribune JULY 3, 2015

Archbishop Bernard Hebda, interim leader of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, will meet worshippers and celebrate his first mass at the St. Paul Cathedral on July 12.

Hebda, a veteran cleric currently serving in New Jersey, was appointed by the Vatican to oversee the archdiocese following the resignation of former Archbishop John Nien­stedt last month.

Hebda will arrive in the Twin Cities next week, and celebrate a “welcome mass” at the 10 a.m. cathedral service, according to the archdiocese. The mass celebrant typically greets parishioners after the service.

His schedule earlier in the week is not available.

Hebda is currently the coadjutor archbishop of the Archdiocese of Newark, N.J., and is slated to succeed Newark Archbishop John J. Myers next year. He will oversee the Twin Cities archdiocese until a permanent archbishop is selected by the Vatican, dividing his time between Minnesota and New Jersey.

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

UNITED STATES
GetReligion

Julia Duin

Well now. I recently chanced on a Huffington Post story that came out in mid May but which was so gripping, it thought that it deserves comment even six weeks later. Consider this a kind of a GetReligion “file of guilt” post.

If the headline: “Buried in Baltimore: The Mysterious Murder of a Nun Who Knew Too Much” doesn’t get you reading the nearly 7,500-word story, nothing can.

Yes, it’s about clergy sex abuse and no, we shouldn’t ever be tired of reading about these stories. Because in this case, a nun found out about the abuse and paid for it with her life. Start here:

On a frigid day in November 1969, Father Joseph Maskell, the chaplain of Archbishop Keough High School in Baltimore, called a student into his office and suggested they go for a drive. When the final bell rang at 2:40 p.m., Jean Hargadon Wehner, a 16-year-old junior at the all-girls Catholic school, followed the priest to the parking lot and climbed into the passenger seat of his light blue Buick Roadmaster.

It was not unusual for Maskell to give students rides home or take them to doctor’s appointments during the school day. The burly, charismatic priest, then 30 years old, had been the chief spiritual and psychological counselor at Keough for two years and was well-known in the community…This time, though, Maskell didn’t bring Wehner home. He navigated his car past the Catholic hospital and industrial buildings that surrounded Keough’s campus and drove toward the outskirts of the city. Eventually, he stopped at a garbage dump, far from any homes or businesses. Maskell stepped out of the car, and the blonde, freckled teenager followed him across a vast expanse of dirt toward a dark green dumpster.

It was then that she saw the body crumpled on the ground.

The body was that of a nun who had found out that Maskell was raping and abusing teenaged girls at the school.

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

ISRAEL
A Mother in Isrel

July 2, 2015 by Hannah Katsman

Last week, Yehuda Shohat and Ariela Sternbuch published a story in Yediot Aharonot about the advice that rabbis give regarding sexual molestation and abuse. Sternbuch called up 27 rabbis and community leaders with a story of how she or her child was sexually abused. In only a few of the cases did the rabbi suggest reporting to the police.

One of the rabbis featured in the Yediot article, Ratzon Arussi, is the chief rabbi of the town of Kiryat Ono. He has a doctorate in law, and teaches on the Jewish legal system at Bar Ilan University. He heads a beit din, or religious court, for resolving monetary disputes.

Below is my translation of the conversation between the reporter and Rabbi Arussi. I translated it from the original recording. A Hebrew transcript of the conversation appears in the Yediot article.

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

SOUTH AMERICA
The Guardian (UK)

Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Rome, Laurence Blair in Asunción, and Uki Goñi in Buenos Aires
Friday 3 July 2015

Pope Francis is expected to be confronted by a host of thorny issues when he touches down in Quito, Ecuador on Sunday to begin a seven-day tour of South America, including a contentious case involving a 10-year-old rape victim in Paraguay who has been refused access to an abortion.

The pope is sure to be asked by the Holy See’s traveling press corp to weigh in on the case – which has been condemned by human rights experts – as well as other issues that he has not spoken publicly about, such as the supreme court decision this month that legalised gay marriage across the

The popular Argentinean pontiff will be greeted like a rock star during his tour of Ecuador, Bolivia and Paraguay. The trip is being seen as a triumphal homecoming of sorts for the pope, who is making his first return to the region since his visit to Brazil in 2013. That trip, in which Francis visited poverty-stricken favelas, was originally planned for his predecessor, Pope Benedict. …

In Paraguay, Francis will face a wholly different political climate. Relations between Francis’s Vatican and the local church in Paraguay were complicated after Francis sacked a local bishop in 2014 who was accused of covering up for sexual abuse of one of his priests. At the time, the departure of Bishop Rogelio Livieres Plano was blamed on “serious pastoral reasons” – and not a sex abuse cover-up – and the bishop claimed that his dismissal was a case of “ideological persecution” because of his opposition to liberation theology, a leftist Catholic theology that emphasises care and activism on behalf of the poor.

The other big question in Paraguay is how Francis will respond to a controversy surrounding the 10-year-old rape victim, who was denied an abortion after allegedly being raped by her step-father and despite the pleas of her mother for a medical intervention. The case has enraged pro-choice activists in Paraguay and abroad, and sparked a national debate about child abuse and the handling of underage pregnancies. Although some UN experts have declared the girl’s life to be in danger because of the pregnancy, few expect the Catholic country’s laws to change.

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

UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

The independent inquiry into historical child sexual abuse in England and Wales will be formally opened next Thursday, it has been announced.

Inquiry chairwoman Lowell Goddard will give an opening statement which will set out its guiding principles.

Justice Goddard will outline how the inquiry will be run, timescales, how evidence will be taken and areas of public life that will be examined.

The inquiry was set up by the home secretary in March.

Justice Goddard took up her post the following month. Her appointment followed the resignation of two chairwomen amid concerns over their links with the establishment.

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

UNITED STATES
Legal Broadcast Network

[with video]

Cecil Caulkins

A man who alleges he was abused by the late Jesuit priest Father Donald O’Shaughnessy has settled his sexual abuse claim. The Chicago-Detroit Province of the Society of Jesus has paid $950,000 to settle the case. The victim had attended the Loyola Academy in Wilmette. Chicago trial lawyer Eugene Hollander represented the plaintiff. He also represented another victim of Father O’Shaughnessy’s abuse in a case discussed in this earlier LBN report. Hollander explains the latest claim in this report.

Father O’Shaughnessy was a Jesuit priest for over seventy years. He served in Chicago and several other places around the country. Hollander explains that the matter in question was a civil claim that was settled by the Society of Jesus. Hollander maintains that the Society knew or should have known of Father O’Shaughnessy’s sexual predilections before the time of the sexual abuse. While the Society has settled the claim, there is no admission of liability as part of the settlement agreement.

As to changes in Society policy, Hollander says he is not aware of any particular changes that may have been made. The Society has not objected to having Father O’Shaugnessy’s name listed on bishopaccountability.org. The site lists priests who have been accused of sexual molestation. [Note: the name was not listed on the site as of July 3, 2015.]

Hollander says that his client is relieved to have this chapter of his life closed. He wants to move on with his life.

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

FLORIDA
Local 10

[with video]

Author: Jenise Fernandez, Reporter, jfernandez@local10.com
Amanda Batchelor, Senior Digital Editor, abatchelor@local10.com

SUNRISE, Fla. –
Police fear that there may be more victims of a voodoo priest from Sunrise who is accused of raping an underage girl and manipulating and threatening several other women with whom he had sexual relationships.

Police said the rape, which involved an 11-year-old girl, happened about five years ago.

According to authorities, Brogenet Cinor, 48, took the girl to a tiki hut-like structure in his back yard and raped her. At the time, the victim’s mother confronted Cinor, but he said it was part of a cleansing and threatened to put a curse on her and her family if she spoke up, police said.

Years later, the family finally stepped forward and told police what happened.

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

CONNECTICUT
San Antonio Express-News

WATERBURY, Conn. (AP) — A Waterbury priest who once ran the St. Francis Home for Children in New Haven has been suspended on accusations he sexually abused a minor at the school.

The New Haven Register reports (http://bit.ly/1IyuWPj ) that the Archdiocese of Hartford says in a statement it learned that the Rev. Jeremiah N. Murasso was accused of sexual abuse of a minor and that he had been placed on administrative leave until the allegation is resolved.

The state Judicial Branch website reports no criminal charges.

Since 2012, Murasso had been pastor of two Waterbury parishes, Blessed Sacrament and the Shrine of St. Anne.

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

FLORIDA
Local 10

[with video]

Author: Troy Blevins, Online Editor, Producer

SUNRISE, Fla. –
A man claiming to be a “voodoo priest” accused of having sex with an underage girl has been arrested, Sunrise police said.

Brogenet Cinor, 48, faces a charge of sexual battery on a child under the age of 12.

The victim went to the Sunrise Police Department with her parents Sept. 25 to provide details of an incident that happened when she was in middle school between 2009 and 2010, police said.

The victim and a person believed to be the girl’s mother met with Cinor, a “voodoo priest,” at his home, police said. The girl’s mother stayed in the front of the home while the girl was brought to a man-made structure in the backyard, described as being like a tiki hut made out of wood, according to the police report.

The girl told police that once she was inside the structure, Cinor asked her to pull her pants down. Police said Cinor then pulled his pants down, exposing his genitalia, and sat on a chair.

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

AUSTRALIA
9 News

A former Catholic brother subjected a young boy to numerous sexual assaults at a Victorian boys home more than 40 years ago, a court has heard.

Roger Mount went on trial in the County Court of Victoria on Friday, charged with 13 counts of indecent assault and buggery on the boy between 1968 and 1972.

All incidents are alleged to have occurred at former St John of God managed boys home, Churinga, in Greensborough, and a holiday home owned by the brotherhood in Mount Eliza.

Mount pleaded not guilty to all counts before the jury.

In his opening statement, prosecutor Gary Hevey said Mount had subjected his victim to four years of abuse, which started when the boy was aged 10.

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

DEUTSCHLAND
Beauftragter

[For the first time abuse in German institutions will be examined by a state commission. The commission should start in January 2016.]

Neue „Unabhängige Aufarbeitungskommission Kindesmissbrauch“ (UAK): Deutscher Bundestag stimmt Aufarbeitungskommission zu.

Erstmals wird Missbrauch in Institutionen und in der Familie durch eine staatliche Kommission untersucht. Damit setzt Deutschland auch international bei der Aufarbeitung neue Akzente.

Kommission soll im Januar 2016 starten.

Rörig: „Wir müssen verstehen lernen, welches unerträgliche Ausmaß Missbrauch in unserer Gesellschaft hat und was wir dagegen tun können!“

Der Deutsche Bundestag hat heute abschließend über die Sicherstellung einer unabhängigen Aufarbeitung in Deutschland debattiert und einen Antrag der Regierungsfraktionen mit Zustimmung von Bündnis 90/Die Grünen angenommen. Die „Unabhängige Aufarbeitungskommission Kindesmissbrauch“ (UAK) soll beim Unabhängigen Beauftragten für Fragen des sexuellen Kindesmissbrauchs, Johannes-Wilhelm Rörig, angesiedelt werden, im Januar 2016 ihre Arbeit aufnehmen und zunächst bis zum Ende der Amtszeit des Beauftragten, bis März 2019, tätig sein. Eine gesetzliche Grundlage wird es für die Kommission nicht geben. Auch die Finanzierung ist noch nicht abschließend geklärt. Die Einrichtung einer Kommission war seit Jahren eine zentrale Forderung von Betroffenen, weiteren Expertinnen und Experten und dem Beauftragten.

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

OREGON
Business Insider

By Shelby Sebens

PORTLAND, Ore. (Reuters) – An Oregon Catholic priest has been placed on leave by the Archdiocese of Portland as police investigate who placed a hidden camera, carefully disguised as an electrical outlet, in a church bathroom, the archdiocese said on Thursday.

The camera was discovered in late April near a toilet in the men’s bathroom of the St. Francis Catholic Church in Sherwood by a church member who took it immediately to Father Ysrael Bien, a police statement said.

But Bien didn’t report the camera to police until May 20 when he reported it stolen, Sherwood police spokesman Ty Hanlon said. Police are investigating how the camera wound up in the bathroom.

Bien has not been charged with a crime or named as a suspect. But the Archdiocese of Portland placed him on administrative leave last week in response to his failure to immediately report the hidden camera to police.

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

CONNECTICUT
WFSB

By Kaitlyn Naples
By Jill Konopka

WATERBURY, CT (WFSB) –
A Catholic priest currently working in Waterbury is out on administrative leave after an allegation surfaced involving the sexual abuse of a minor.

The claim comes more than 20 years later and from the priest’s time in New Haven at a facility that no longer exists.

Father Dr. Jeremiah Murasso of the Blessed Sacrament Church and the Shrine of St. Anne was serving mass up until a few weeks ago.

According to the Archdiocese of Hartford, Murasso is accused of sexually abusing a minor more than 20 years ago in New Haven.

However, many people said they don’t believe the allegations.

“From the person I know, I don’t think it could be true,” said Pasquale Musco, who is a parishioner.

“He does have full support of the church, and a lot of people in this city.”

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

IRELAND
Irish Times

Kathy Sheridan

The parties had announced a settlement. As court 25 emptied out, Dolores Atwood stood with her devoted husband’s arm around her, looking confused and distressed, and began to weep.

RTÉ’s head of news, Kevin Bakhurst; managing editor of current affairs, television, David Nally; and the broadcaster’s solicitor, Patricia Harrington, formed a sympathetic circle around her, attempting to make some kind of sense for her of what had just happened.

Outside, Robert Dore, solicitor for Richard Burke, Archbishop Emeritus of Benin – as he is still known, though out of ministry – leaned against the court railing overlooking Chancery Park, waiting for members of the Burke party to emerge, as word spread that the settlement hadn’t yielded a cent in damages for his client.

Burke had claimed that he was branded a paedophile on RTÉ’s Mission to Prey programme. The case hinged on whether his sexual relationship with Atwood had begun when she was 14 as she claimed, or 20, as he claimed.

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

IRELAND
The Journal

DOLORES ATWOOD, THE woman at the centre of former archbishop Richard Burke’s defamation action against RTÉ has said that she is “very happy” with the judgement.

Earlier the case was settled, although RTÉ confirmed that they had paid no damages in the settlement.

Burke had taken the case alleging he had been defamed by a Prime Time Investigates programme entitled Mission to Prey.

The 2011 programme wrongly branded him a paedophile, Burke claimed.

“I am very happy and I like the judgement,” Atwood said outside court.

I’m happy that I was able to come from Canada to Ireland to testify, and I am very pleased RTÉ was able to believe me and stand by me in all this. I’m really glad the truth finally came out. I am very, very happy.

When asked whether or not she can now put the case behind her Atwood said it will “take time”.

It will take time, because of the way he described me, what he said about me that was not true. That was sad, you know, but I am happy the truth finally is out there.

The court heard evidence from Atwood, who claimed she had been abused by Burke in her native Nigeria when she was 13 or 14. Burke claimed they had consensual sex when she was 20.

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

NORWAY
News in English

The Catholic diocese in Oslo is appealing a claim from the county administrator that it repay NOK 40 million in state and municipal financial support after allegedly inflating its membership roster. The county administrator (Fylkesmannen i Oslo go Akershus) claims the church violated regulations to obtain more support than it was due.

Religious organizations in Norway can apply for and receive money based on their membership. The Catholic Church received a total of NOK 105.4 million in 2014 after having registered 65,500 new members between 2010 and 2014. Of that, fully 56,500 members were registered using methods that are a matter of dispute.

The diocese in Oslo was raided last February and both Biship Bernt Eidsvig and the diocese’s finance director were charged with fraud amounting to as much as NOK 50 million. The church is charged with scanning telephone catalogues for Polish and Spanish names, tracking down their resident registration numbers in Norway and then logging them as members of the church without their knowledge.

Newspaper Dagbladet reported Monday that the county administrator now also claims, after reviewing church accounts, that the church must return NOK 40,581,723. The diocese is contesting the order.

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

NORWAY
The Local

Norway is claiming 4.6 million euros ($5.1 million) compensation from the Catholic church for

The diocese, its bishop and the financial officer are suspected of fraudulently registering thousands of people on its membership lists between 2010 and 2014, which enabled it to obtain 50 million kroner (more than $6.0 million or 5.8 million euros) in state subsidies.

Norway’s church denies engaging in fraud but has admitted its past methods were “unsatisfactory.”

In Norway, a predominantly Protestant country, the state provides subsidies to organised religions, the size of which is determined by the number of members.

The Dagbladet daily, which first broke the story, said the diocese had received a letter from the administration on Monday calling for the 40.6 million kroner overpayment to be refunded.

A spokeswoman for the diocese, Lisa Wade, confirmed the contents of the letter. She told AFP that the church would not be paying the sum and would take the matter up with the culture ministry.

“We have a very different understanding of the law,” she said. “It’s complex. It’s not like it’s a clear-cut case.”

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

NORWAY
Newsweek

By Conor Gaffey 7/2/15

The Catholic Church in Norway stands accused of defrauding the state of €5.7m by inflating membership numbers and could see its leading bishop face a six-year prison sentence.

Between 2010 and 2014, the Catholic Church in Norway is accused of bumping up membership numbers by as much as 65,000 in order to receive greater state subsidies, an Oslo police spokesperson told Newsweek.

Norwegian police have charged Bernt Ivar Eidsvig, the bishop of Oslo, along with the financial manager of Oslo diocese and the diocese itself, with gross economic fraud of up to 50m Norwegian krone (€5.7m).

The local Oslo government body which distributes state funds to religious institutions is also claiming back the alleged over-payment and this week rejected an explanatory report which the church put forward in March.

The allegations were originally reported by Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet last year.

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

NORWAY
UPI

By Andrew V. Pestano Follow @AVPLive9

July 1, 2015

OSLO, Norway, July 1 (UPI) — The Catholic Church is appealing a claim from government officials in Oslo, Norway that the church pay $5.1 million in compensation for participating in fraudulent practices.

The Oslo diocese, its bishop and its financial officer are accused of fraudulently registering thousands of people on its membership lists as to receive greater subsidies from the government.

Norway, predominantly Protestant, permits religious organizations to apply for and receive federal subsidies based on their membership amounts.

The Olso diocese registered about 65,500 new members between 2010 and 2014 and more than 56,500 people of that total were registered under disputed methods, according to Olso government officials. The diocese received more than $6 million in national subsidies during that time.

The church is accused of using telephone catalogs to look for Polish or Spanish names and then tracking down their resident registration numbers in Norway before registering them as members of the church without their consent.

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

MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

07/02/2015

Jennifer Haselberger

Frequent readers of this blog will note that I have commented before on the practice of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis of grossly exaggerating the number of Catholics in its territory. I have pointed out that doing so renders all efforts at strategic planning questionable, if not ridiculous, and can also cause us to have to pay larger than necessary subsidies to affiliated organizations such as the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Elsewhere, this practice is having even more serious consequences. As the UPI reported yesterday, the Catholic Diocese of Oslo, Norway, its bishop, and its CFO are accused of defrauding the Norwegian government of more than $5 million. The government, which subsidizes religious organizations based on the number of members, claims that the Diocese used fraudulent methods to register more than 65,000 new members during the period from 2010 to 2014.

Thankfully, the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis does not receive this kind of federal assistance. Parishes with schools, on the other hand, do participate in USDA School Nutrition Programs such as the Free-and-Reduced Lunch Program. Can you imagine if, on top of all of our other troubles, it was determined that an Archdiocesan parish (with its corporate board of Archbishop, Vicar General, Pastor, and two lay trustees) was found to have been defrauding this government program by deliberately inflating its number of enrolled students who qualify for this benefits?

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

CONNECTICUT
New Haven Register

Priest who has served in New Haven, East Haven suspended over sex abuse claim at Waterbury school

By Ed Stannard, New Haven Register

POSTED: 07/02/15

A Waterbury priest who has served in New Haven and East Haven and once ran the St. Francis Home for Children has been suspended as a result of accusations that he sexually abused a minor at the school.

The Rev. Jeremiah N. Murasso has been pastor of two Waterbury parishes, Blessed Sacrament and the Shrine of St. Anne, since 2012.

He was director of the St. Francis Home, also known as Highland Heights, from 1992 to 1995. He also served at St. Joseph Church in New Haven from 1982 to 1985 and at St. Vincent de Paul Church in East Haven from 1985 to 1989.

“The Archdiocese of Hartford has learned that an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor has been made against the Rev. Jeremiah N. Murasso,” said the statement by the archdiocese. It said he had been placed “on administrative leave until this allegation is resolved.”

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

UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

by David Clohessy

Two notorious serial predator priests have been back in the news recently. Both assaulted dozens of kids. Both were shielded, for decades, by complicit colleagues and supervisors. Their horrific crimes, though they took place years ago, should not go unnoticed.

1.One of Iowa’s most notorious child molesting clerics, Fr. James M. Janssen, has passed away. He reportedly abusing many boys, often along with other pedophile priests Fr. Francis Bass, Fr. Theodore Anthony Geerts, and Fr. James W. Murphy, and of pimping his victims to Bass, Murphy and Fr. William Wiebler.

[Quad-City Times]

Janssen allegedly used sacrilege and petty crime to groom his victims, and sometimes took them out of state to abuse them. Janssen’s “stable of boys” ranged in ages from 5 to 18. He continued to abuse at least one into his twenties, and he kept in touch with several into their adulthood, according to multiple sources (see BishopAccountability.org)

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

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

2. A priest who “abused hundreds of children over decades” should have never been ordained, a Northern Ireland government panel was told last month, is also deceased.

[RTE News]

[BBC News]

Fr. Brendan Smyth died in prison after being convicted of indecently assaulting 74 children in the Republic of Ireland and 43 others in Northern Ireland. He also worked in North Dakota and Rhode Island where at least three abuse and cover up lawsuits (in 2010 and 2008) have been filed in Rhode Island because of Fr. Smyth’s crimes. He also worked in North Dakota.

In 2007, Providence Catholic officials admitted that they had received eight abuse reports about Smyth. (East Greenwich Pendulum, October 25, 2007)

We call on Rhode Island Bishop Thomas Tobin, Bismarck Bishop David Kagan, Fargo Bishop John Folda of Fargo and every single diocesan or parish employee in the two states to show some courage, break their silence, act with compassion and use every possible means to reach out to and help others who were sexually violated by Smyth or Janssen (or by Janssen’s complicit clerical colleagues). It’s not enough for a church official to say “We’re sorry for these crimes.” Church officials must use their vast resources – parish websites, pulpit announcements, new releases and church bulletins – to seek out and console those who have been suffering for decades because of this predator.

And let me address this question: “Why does it matter whether church officials disclose the death of a predator priest?”

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

FLORIDA
NBC Miami

By Brian Hamacher

A Sunrise man used his position as a Voodoo priest to have sex with multiple women and an underage girl, telling them they were cursed or had “bad spirits” and needed to be cleansed, police said.

Brogenet Cinor, 48, was arrested June 19 on a charge of sexual battery of a child under 12, according to a Sunrise Police arrest report obtained Thursday.

Cinor was later released on bond and it was unknown if he’s hired an attorney.

According to the report, the incident happened between 2009 and 2010, but wasn’t reported until this past September.

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

ISRAEL
The Jerusalem Post

A well known rabbi from the city of Safed suspected of sexual assault was arrested at Ben Gurion airport last night after trying to leave the country.

The rabbi, the leader of a congregation in Safed and the dean of a yeshiva, was asked to suspend himself from his duties last week after complaints were made about alleged sexual abuse which were being investigated by a panel of local rabbis in the city, since a formal complaint to the police had yet to be made.

Such a complaint was however filed to the police against the rabbi on Wednesday afternoon, the police stated. The allegations deal with an incident that is supposed to have taken place several years ago.

The Safed police opened an investigation into the incident but are also examining whether the statue of limitations had expired for the case in question.

A second complaint was filed later on Wednesday, Channel 2 reported.

The rabbi in question is a prominent figure in the national-religious world. Concerns over ongoing, allegedly systematic abuse by the rabbi was brought to the attention of senior rabbis in the city, including Safed chief rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu.

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

UNITED STATES
American Against the Tea Partyi

If you think that Catholic priests are the only men of the cloth who molest children, think again. There is a streak of denial in Protestant churches as wide as the River Jordan. They think it can’t happen in their churches. But it does and with alarming regularity.

The good folks at Awkward Moments Children’s Bible keep an eye on local stories about pastors who molest children and the disabled. In May of 2014, they found 24 stories about pastors who committed the unforgivable sin of molesting a vulnerable member of their flock. These men are trusted by their congregations — they are leaders — which makes their betrayal of trust that much worse.

Unlike the Catholic Church, the myriad Protestant organizations have no real governing body, which means that a pastor can avoid trouble simply by moving away from the place where the crime occurred. These offenders are harder to spot, harder to accuse, harder to hold accountable. They are seen as respected community leaders and authority figures. To a child, these men are infallible and unquestioned. Which makes it easier for them to molest their victims.

Before I present the list from Awkward Moments Children’s Bible author Gilgamesh Horus, I want to quote him:

Obligatory disclaimer #1: Yes, of course – they are all innocent until proven guilty. I’m sure it was all just a misunderstanding.
Obligatory disclaimer #2: “They are obviously not real Christians!” Says who? Were they not trusted “real Christian leaders” the day before they got arrested? Wake up!

List of Pedophile Pastors.

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