ABUSE TRACKER

FIJI
Fiji Times

Serafina Silaitoga
Saturday, August 22, 2015

CHURCH pastors should confront and discuss with their members issues that affect society, including sexual-related cases.

Assemblies of God Church pastor Reverend Vilitati Ratotodro said it was time for such issues, particularly rape cases, to be discussed among church members.

Speaking to about 500 youths at the AOG church conference in Labasa, Mr Ratotodro said it was time for the truth to be confronted and dealt with by church leaders.

“It’s about time pastors in the churches confront, head-on, the truth from the pulpit,” he said.

“Many times we tend to ignore the truth because we want to refrain from punishing our relationship with people and forget the mere fact that we are not helping curb these growing problems.

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

MILWAUKEE (WI)
WISN

[with video]

By Colleen Henry

MILWAUKEE —Police are investigating threats against the Milwaukee archbishop sent via email.

As the head of Milwaukee’s Catholic archdiocese, Archbishop Jerome Listecki has found himself at the center of many public controversies — priest sexual abuse, gay marriage and a papal portrait woven with condoms.

Newly unsealed court records show Listecki was the target of two threatening emails in May.

The first read, “Archbishop Listecki, your behavior and attitude reflects that you’re a loser. I have been indirectly responsible for the murder of at least 80 people in the Milwaukee area.”

The writer appears to believe the archbishop has some relationship to Marquette’s law school, which he doesn’t, and threatened, “Your kids coming out of Marquette law are spineless, common, simple thinkers. There have already been about 25 killed. You want more? I was raised to do this.”

Investigators tracked the emails to a computer at the YWCA on North Martin Luther King Drive.

WISN 12 News obtained a copy of the subpoena for the writers’ email accounts: james@wi.rr.com and rockit@yahoo.com.

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.

PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

By Liz Zemba
Saturday, Aug. 22, 2015

The attorney for a Somerset County priest accused of traveling to Central and South America to have sex with orphaned boys doesn’t want jurors to hear from a psychologist who treats sexually abused children and sex offenders.

The Rev. Joseph D. Maurizio has been held in the Cambria County jail on a federal detainer since Sept. 25, when he was arrested on a grand jury’s allegations he visited a Honduran orphanage under the guise of performing charity work but really wanted to have sex with boys.

His trial, expected to last at least three weeks, is set to begin Sept. 8 in U.S. District Court in Johnstown.

In pretrial motions, Maurizio’s attorney, Steven Passarello of Altoona, has asked Judge Kim R. Gibson to bar federal prosecutor Amy E. Larson from calling clinical psychologist Veronique Nicole Valliere of Fogelsville to testify.

Valliere did not interview any of the alleged victims. Passarello contends she will be called to testify in general regarding Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome, or CSAAS. He said the syndrome purports to identify common behaviors of child sex-abuse victims, including secrecy, delayed disclosure and retraction.

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

Patsy McGarry

Ireland’s Catholic bishops have been praised by the papal nuncio, Archbishop Charles Brown, for the compassion with which they dealt with marriage-equality issues before May’s referendum.

He also says that the description of the referendum result as a defeat for humanity by the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, was more nuanced in the original Italian than translation.

The nuncio warns against Catholics becoming a caricature of themselves through a seeming preoccupation with moral issues to the exclusion of all others and rejects criticisms that there has been less consultation before the appointment of bishops since his arrival in Ireland, in 2012. He will not be drawn on whether priests have declined invitations to become bishops. …

On the Vatican’s handling of the clerical child sex-abuse crisis generally, he believes there was a growing awareness of the gravity of the issue through the 1990s but that there had been differences of approach by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, where he worked for 17 years before his arrival in Ireland, and that of the Congregation of Clergy.

The declining number of priests in Ireland is a huge problem, he said, but he remains very positive about the faith of the people.

His office as nuncio played no role in the disciplining of Irish priests by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, such as that of Fr Tony Flannery, but he says was kept informed in such 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.

MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Madeleine Baran Aug 21, 2015

The first hearing in the criminal case against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has been pushed back for the third time.

The hearing in Ramsey County District Court is now scheduled for Oct. 29.

The first court appearance in the criminal case had been originally scheduled for June 24, and was later rescheduled to July 17 and then to Aug. 25.

Ramsey County Attorney John Choi charged the archdiocese in June with six gross misdemeanor counts for allegedly failing to protect children from Curtis Wehmeyer, a former priest now in prison for sexually abusing children and possessing child pornography.

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.

VIRGINIA
WJLA

BY JOCE STERMAN, ABC 7 NEWS FRIDAY, AUGUST 21ST 2015

WASHINGTON (WJLA) — The 7 On Your Side I-Team has confirmed a New Jersey priest accused in a civil lawsuit of sexually abusing a minor has ties to local schools. Manuel Gallo-Espinoza has never been criminally charged. His church believed he fled the country more than a decade ago, but ABC 7 discovered Gallo-Espinoza spent nine years teaching children in our area, although there were no accusations of wrongdoing during his time in two area facilities.

Becky Ianni waited 40 years to deal with the abuse she says she suffered at the hands of the Alexandria priest that became a family friend. She said, “I was told I’d go to hell if I told on this priest.”

Ianni eventually spoke up, coming forward decades after her abuser committed suicide. She received a settlement from the church, but not justice. That’s what she helps others try to find through SNAP, The Survivors Network of those Abuse by Priests.

“It’s to let victims know they’re not alone and to encourage them to go to prosecutors,” Ianni said.

The Burke, Virginia resident’s most recent cause involves Manuel Gallo-Espinoza, spotted in a Visa photo obtained by NJ.com, which first reported on his case. Records obtained by the 7 On Your Side I-Team show the priest was removed from his post in 2003 following allegations of sexual abuse of a minor.

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
Catholic Sentinel

Ed Langlois
Of the Catholic Sentinel

Archbishop Alexander Sample on Thursday sent a two-page letter to parishes and Catholic schools updating them on the case of a priest being sought by Sherwood Police.

In the letter, the archbishop said the Archdiocese of Portland and St. Francis Parish in Sherwood owe “a debt of gratitude” to a teen boy who discovered a spy camera in a bathroom used by altar servers, and to the boy’s family, who diligently made sure police knew about the incident.

Records uncovered by the Oregonian showed that Father Ysrael Bien purchased the $295 camera, which was disguised as an electrical outlet.

Archbishop Sample says he was “shocked and stunned” when he heard the warrant had been issued. Until that time, police had told the archdiocese only that there was “an ongoing investigation.”

Father Bien, 34, has been charged with invasion of privacy, tampering with evidence and initiating a false report — all misdemeanors.

Without telling anyone, Father Bien returned to his native Philippines in June and has stayed, despite repeated requests by Archbishop Sample that he return to Oregon.

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.

CHILE/IRELAND
RTE News

The Chilean government has decided to deport an Irish priest who was convicted last year of sexually abusing a young girl, according to the Chilean interior ministry.

John O’Reilly was sentenced to four years’ probation in November for repeatedly molesting the girl from the time she was five.

The abuse took place from 2010 to 2012 at an exclusive school where O’Reilly was the spiritual advisor at the time.

The interior ministry said it was revoking O’Reilly’s permanent residency and that he would have to leave the country after completing his sentence in 2018.

The decision can be appealed to the Supreme Court.

O’Reilly, 69, was once an influential figure in Chile as the local head of the Catholic Church’s ultra-conservative Legion of Christ order.

He arrived in Chile in 1984 and was granted citizenship in 2008 – but had it revoked in March by Congress.

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.

KENTUCKY
WKYT

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) – A Louisville Catholic priest has resigned from his church and police say there were hundreds of images of schoolchildren from the parish on his computer.

The Archdiocese of Louisville says Stephen A. Pohl has resigned as pastor of St. Margaret Mary Parish. The eastern Louisville church has a private school on its campus.

Archdiocese officials said in a release Friday that they were told police found 200 images of students from the school on Pohl’s computer. The students were all clothed but some of the images were “inappropriate.” Police say they also found child pornography on the computer. He was placed on administrative leave last week.

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

Patsy McGarry

A talk to be given by Fr Tony Flannery at a community centre in Cloyne diocese has been cancelled by order of Bishop William Crean.

It’s understood the invitation was issued to Fr Flannery by the parish pastoral council of Killeagh in east Cork and he had agreed to give the opening address at its Spiritfest 2015 over the last weekend in September.

In 2012 Fr Flannery was suspended from public ministry by the Vatican’s Congregation of the Faith (CDF) for his more liberal views on women priests, homosexuality and contraception.

Personal representations

When he became aware of the invitation to Fr Flannery, Bishop Crean made personal representations to the parish priest of Killeagh, Fr Timothy Hazelwood, and to Fr Flannery’s superiors in the Redemptorist congregation.

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KENTUCKY
WAVE

By John P. Wise
By Joey Brown

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) – The local priest who was put on administrative leave pending a child porn investigation had photographs of some of the students from his parish and has resigned as pastor of the church.

A letter sent from the Archdiocese of Louisville to St. Margaret Mary parishioners indicated that Father Stephen A. Pohl “had numerous (up to 200) photos of St. Margaret Mary school children on his computer that were taken on the parish grounds.”

“We were informed that children were fully clothed in the pictures, but the authorities described some of these pictures as ‘inappropriate,'” the letter continued.

A second revelation in the letter indicated that “Fr. Pohl had downloaded child pornography on his personal computer and other technology.”

Pohl was placed on leave on Aug. 12, the day Archdiocese leaders “first learned of this situation,” the letter read.

Pohl had reported to church officials that FBI investigators had visited him.

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

KENTUCKY
WLKY

LOUISVILLE, Ky. —Archdiocese of Louisville officials on Friday addressed the resignation of and allegations against Father Stephen Pohl of St. Margaret Mary Church pastor.

Read the letter sent to St. Margaret Mary parishioners

The archdiocese said a child told his or her family about a photo that was taken that bothered the child. The family got a copy of the picture and gave the photo to authorities, who began investigating Pohl.

Watch the complete press conference with Archbishop Kurtz

Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz said he learned of the investigation on Aug. 12 and placed Pohl on administrative leave. Kurtz accepted Pohl’s resignation on Thursday.

Archdiocese Chancellor Dr. Brian Reynolds said the archdiocese received an interim report from the FBI Cyber Crimes Unit on Thursday.

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.

KENTUCKY
The Courier-Journal

Chris Kenning, @ckenning_cj August 21, 2015

Louisville Catholic priest Stephen A. Pohl has resigned as pastor of St. Margaret Mary after investigators found child porn on his computer and that Pohl had taken “inappropriate” images of parish school children, Archdiocese of Louisville leaders said Friday.

An ongoing FBI investigation has found that Pohl had up to 200 photos of St. Margaret Mary schoolchildren on a computer, officials said. All were clothed, but some photos were deemed inappropriate by investigators. Investigators also told the archdiocese that Pohl also downloaded child porn on his personal computer.

“I personally, and all of our archdiocese, were deeply grieved” about the allegations and “the impact that this investigation will have on the faithful throughout the archdiocese,” Archbishop of Louisville Joseph Kurtz said at a news briefing Friday, when he pledged full cooperation and transparency.

Chancellor Brian Reynolds said the FBI cyber crimes investigation — prompted after a child told a family member about a photo that was taken that “bothered the child” — is still ongoing and could take months. The information the archdiocese shared Friday was from an interim investigation report officials received a day earlier.

Pohl, 57, who had been pastor of the parish at 7813 Shelbyville Road since 2008 and an ordained priest since 1985, was put on leave last week. On Thursday night, after Pohl resigned, the archdiocese shared the preliminary findings with an upset school staff and parents, offering counselors and information.

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
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, Aug. 21

Statement by Joelle Casteix of Newport Beach CA, western regional director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (949 322 7434, jcasteix@gmail.com)

A lying, disobedient and creepy Catholic priest is now back in his home country. Portland’s archbishop, who brought him to Oregon and let him escape, should take steps now to protect Philippine families from him and help law enforcement nab him.

We call on Archbishop Alexander Sample to

—write his Philippine colleagues and urge them to suspend Fr. Ysrael Bien and keep him away from children. That’s what a compassionate shepherd would do.

—ask every priest in the archdiocese to read an impassioned plea this weekend from the pulpit, urging anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered crimes or misdeeds by Fr. Bien to call police.

—personally visit St. Francis parish in Sherwood – and every church facility where Fr. Bien spent any time at all – begging anyone with knowledge or suspicions (If prosecutors are able to charge Fr. Bien with more crimes, their chances of successfully extraditing him improve.)

—promise that the next time a priest, nun, seminarian, brother or other church employee is accused of or suspected of sexual misdeeds, church supervisors will insist that his or her passport be turned over to the archbishop, to prevent the accused from fleeing overseas.

It’s not enough for Sample to say “Geez, sorry, I’m powerless here.” He has massive resources and bully pulpits and church bulletins and parish websites and thousands of volunteers and hundreds of employees. He should use them to protect the vulnerable, heal the wounded and help law enforcement. Vague apologies and tepid regrets are inadequate. Decisive action is 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.

KENTUCKY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, Aug. 21

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

Fr. Stephen Pohl is at least the 65th Louisville Catholic cleric to be accused of child sex crimes.

We’re glad church officials are talking about this case but hope they use this opportunity to aggressively prod anyone with information or suspicions about Fr. Pohl to call law enforcement immediately.

[WDRB]

It’s a simple but crucial question for Louisville Catholic officials and church members: Do you help law enforcement, or not, in a child porn investigation against a priest? We hope they find the courage to do what’s right and work hard to seek out anyone who might have seen, suspected or suffered child sex crimes by this priest and other priests.

[WHAS]

When Fr. Pohl was suspended from St. Margaret Mary parish for possible child pornography charges, Archbishop Joseph Kurtz issued a vague and disingenuously timed news release.

In our experience, in cases like this, Catholic officials do the bare minimum. Rarely do they use church websites, parish bulletins and pulpit announcements to repeatedly prod victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to step forward. Rarely do they ask their flock to reach out to ex-parishioners who may have knowledge or suspicions of wrongdoing by Fr. Pohl. But those are the caring, responsible and moral steps they should take.

We urge anyone – Catholic or not – to call law enforcement if they have any information that might help prove or disprove these troubling allegations.

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.

KENTUCKY
WDRB

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – The Louisville Archdiocese has released new information about a priest who is being investigated for child pornography allegations.

In a press conference Friday afternoon, church leaders told reporters that Father Stephen Pohl, pastor of St. Margaret Mary parish, submitted his resignation yesterday afternoon.

Church leaders said they first learned of the FBI Cyber Crimes Unit investigation of Father Pohl on Aug. 12. The Archdiocese told reporters that the investigation began after a child told their parents about a picture that was taken. The parents obtained a copy of the picture, reviewed it, and immediately contacted authorities.

A search warrant was executed last Wednesday.

“Pastorally, I’m feeling the grief that I can only imagine parents are feeling,” Rev. Joseph Kurtz, the Archbishop of Louisville said.

Anger, hurt and fear. That’s how parents felt after the Archdiocese of Louisville met with parents at St. Margaret Mary Thursday night.

“Father Pohl had numerous, up to 200 they reported photos of St. Margaret Mary children on his computer, cell phone or other places. These pictures were apparently taken on parish grounds,” Brian Reynolds, Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Louisville 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.

KENTUCKY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, Aug. 21

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

Louisville’s archbishop claims he’s ‘cooperating’ with law enforcement in the child porn case involving Fr. Stephen Pohl. That’s not enough.

Archbishop Joseph Kurtz and his staff must use their vast resources – church websites, parish bulletins and pulpit announcements, across the whole archdiocese – to aggressively seek out victims, witnesses and whistleblowers and actively help police and prosecutors pursue this criminal cleric.

In our experience (26 years), we’ve learned that when a Catholic official claims he’s ‘cooperating’ with secular authorities, that essentially means he’s merely responding to – rather than fighting – subpoenas. That’s not optional. Ignoring subpoenas is illegal.

As president of all US bishops, however, and the head of a particularly scandal-ridden archdiocese, Kurtz, however, can and should do much more than this.

Kurtz should

—publicize the names of every church facility where Fr. Pohl worked, even briefly,
—personally visit each of them, begging those with information or suspicions to call police,
—turn over Fr. Pohl’s full personnel file to law enforcement, whether asked to do so or not, and
—ask his flock to seek out former church staff and members who spent time with Fr. Pohl and specifically ask them if they saw, suspected or suffered any crimes or wrongdoing by the priest.

This case brings to mind the horrific Fr. Shawn Ratigan situation in Kansas City Missouri, which ultimately led to the belated resignation of Bishop Robert Finn, the only US bishop ever convicted of withholding evidence and endangering kids. (Fr. Ratigan also took “inappropriate” photos of parishioners’ kids.)

We urge anyone – Catholic or not – to call law enforcement if they have any information that might help prove or disprove these troubling allegations. We especially urge church employees to speak up. It may sound trite, but you’re either part of the problem or part of the solution. If you know or suspect anything – however old, small or seemingly insignificant it may seem – you have a moral and civic duty to call secular authorities.

Finally, our hearts ache for St. Margaret Mary parishioners who must wonder whether their son, daughter, niece, nephew or neighbor’s child is one of the kids that Fr. Pohl took “inappropriate” photos of and may have shared with others. We urge these families to prod their church officials to do more to protect the vulnerable, heal the wounded and expose the truth.

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

In a lot of ways, the new Fr. Manuel Gallo Espinoza case is much like the old Fr. Joseph Jeyapaul case. But it’s worse.

Fr. Jeyapaul generated international headlines when he was pled guilty this summer – after a long, hard extradition process – to sexually assaulting a Minnesota girl in the Crookston diocese. (Thanks to the courage of another victim, Megan Peterson.)

Now comes Fr. Espinoza who, like Fr. Jeyapaul, fled overseas after abuse reports against him were made. (He worked in Newark and taught in Virginia, Maryland and Equador.)

Here’s the difference.

First, Fr. Jeyapaul claims it was coincidental that he was home in India before law enforcement could nab him. But Fr. Espinoza says two Catholic colleagues urge him to escape abroad before law enforcement could nab him.

And Fr. Jeyapaul denied his guilt for years. Just weeks ago, Fr. Espinoza admitted his guilt.

Fr. Espinoza is, frankly, just a run-of-mill predator making the same sorry excuses predators make. (He “was drunk,” “made a mistake,” “only did it once,” the boy “wanted it,” and “wasn’t so innocent” and “now wants money.” Bla, bla, bla.)

Let’s focus instead on the Catholic hierarchy.

At least four bishops are involved: Newark Archbishop John Myers, Maryland Archbishop William Lori, Arlington Bishop Paul Loverde and Equador Bishop Alfredo José Espinoza Mateus. When did they know that Fr. Espinoza:

–was accused of abuse,
–fled overseas,
–returned to the US,
–was teaching in two more states,
–fled overseas again, and
–admitted his crimes?

And when did those bishops issue strong, clear public warnings to police, prosecutors, parents, parishioners in the public? (The answer, of course, is basically NEVER.)

We’ll soon get answers to all these questions, of course. Why? Because bishops are “open and transparent” in clergy sex cases these days, right? Because the days of secrecy by bishops are over, right?

Don’t hold your breath.

How about Fr. Jevie Hercules and Antonino Salazar. They’re the two Newark archdiocesan staffers who reportedly told Fr. Espinoza to hightail it out of Dodge. Think Catholic priests and employees and church members will defrock, demote, discipline or denounce them?

Again, don’t hold your breath. That continues to be the Rubicon that the Catholic hierarchy refuses to cross: punitive action against those who conceal abuse.

It’s also worth noting when all this took place. As New Jersey SNAP leader Mark Crawford pointed out, “The ink wasn’t even dry on the new US church abuse policy when these two Catholic officials were telling an accused pedophile to hop on a plane and escape.”

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KENTUCKY
WHAS

LOUISVILLE (WHAS11) – Father Stephen Pohl resigned on Thursday, Aug. 20, from his position as a pastor of the St. Margaret Mary Parish.

Pohl is under investigation by the FBI and is accused of taking inappropriate pictures of children.

The Archdiocese of Louisville said Pohl’s ministry as a priest remains suspended. He cannot present himself as a priest, wear clerical garb or provide ministry.

The archdiocese said Pohl resigned so he could give his full attention to the situation he is facing and “…so that St. Margaret Mary Parish can move forward…”.

The archdiocese said they have talked to police and will continue to cooperate with the investigation as is continues.

The Archdiocese of Louisville said Pohl had up to 200 photographs of St. Margaret Mary School students in his computer and were taken on parish grounds.

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.

NEW HAMPSHIRE
New Hampshire Union Leader

By DALE VINCENT
New Hampshire Union Leader

CONCORD — During his cross-examination of an alleged rape victim Thursday, defense attorney J.W. Carney focused on what he said the girl didn’t do.

“You didn’t tell Owen you were scared,” he said of his client, former St. Paul School student Owen Labrie, now 19.

The 16-year-old who says Labrie sexually assaulted her two days before graduation last year has testified that she told Labrie “no” three times, but he continued the assault.

The alleged victim was a freshman at St. Paul’s School when she accepted a traditional “Senior Salute” from Labrie, then 18, an athlete headed for Harvard and later divinity school. The girl said her expectation was that there would be kissing and “making out,” but that Labrie’s actions went way beyond that and were unwelcome

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KENTUCKY
The Courier-Journal

Chris Kenning, @ckenning_cj August 21, 2015

The Archdiocese of Louisville will hold a 1 p.m. briefing today on the investigation into one of its priests related to child pornography.

Last weekend, the archdiocese announced that Father Stephen A. Pohl, pastor of St. Margaret Mary Parish at 7813 Shelbyville Road, was put on leave after the archdiocese said it learned of an investigation about “inappropriate photos of children that have been taken and collected by Father Pohl to determine if he has possessed or distributed child pornography.”

Dr. Brian Reynolds, chancellor and chief administrative officer, and Archbishop of Louisville Joseph Kurtz will conduct the briefing.

Archdiocese officials last week named The Rev. J. Mark Spalding, Vicar General and pastor of Holy Trinity Parish, as the temporary administrator of St. Margaret Mary Parish.

Previously, Kurtz called it a “painful situation” in a letter to parishioners dated Aug. 14, and said he would provide updates as more information became available.

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AUSTRALIA
The Courier

Aug. 21, 2015

Former Ballarat Bishop Ronald Mulkearns is gravely ill and a shadow hangs over his anticipated appearance at the Royal Commission in November.

The Ballarat Diocese confirmed Bishop Mulkearns underwent surgery on Thursday night where it was found he had cancer but a spokesperson would not confirm the kind or severity of the illness.

While the royal commission has requested Bishop Mulkearns testify at hearings beginning November 23 the latest developments add some uncertainty following his non-appearance at the Parliamentry inquiry in 2013 on grounds of ill health.

Clergy sex abuse survivor spokesperson Andrew Collins said he hoped Bishop Mulkearns’ state of health would not compromise the Royal Commission’s objectives to get at the truth over claims of a decades-long sexual abuse cover-up in the church.

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CONCORD, N.H. —A New Hampshire prep school that has educated some of the nation’s elite for more than a century and a half is confronting a campus practice of sexual conquest after a senior was charged with raping a 15-year-old freshman girl.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
WCVB

In a series of letters over the past year to students, parents and alumni, St. Paul’s School Rector Michael Hirschfeld candidly acknowledged the sexual assault charges and vowed to re-examine campus culture to see how a practice known as “Senior Salute” had been allowed to develop.

“While the allegation and the people it involves will not be a topic of conversation at the school, the broader issues it raises – the use of social media to perpetuate unhealthy relationships, the ‘hookup’ culture and unsanctioned student ‘traditions’ – will be,” Hirschfeld wrote on Aug. 7, 2014, a month after Owen Labrie was charged with rape and other felonies.

Labrie is on trial in Concord, home to the Episcopal prep school founded in 1856.

Set on a leafy, shaded campus on the hem of New Hampshire’s capital city, St. Paul’s looks more college than high school. Red brick buildings with soaring arches and columns dot rolling hills and athletic fields are emerald in mid-August heat. The school has seen future Nobel winners pass through its doors, along with Pulitzer Prize winners, senators, international business executives, bishops and diplomats.

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INDIANA
NWI.com

Carmen McCollum carmen.mccollum@nwi.com, (219) 662-5337

HAMMOND | St. Casimir Pastor William “Bill” O’Toole has stepped down from his position as pastor at St. Casimir and at All Saints Catholic Church after he was seen Aug. 9 walking naked through St. Casimir Catholic School.

Hammond Police Lt. Richard Hoyda said police were called to St. Casimir School in the early evening of Aug. 9. He said a caller told the dispatcher a man was seen through a window walking around the school naked.

“Officers located an adult male in a state of undress inside of the school,” Hoyda said. “School officials … were already on scene and had knowledge of the situation. The man was allowed to dress and at that time he was not placed under arrest.”

Hoyda said detectives are investigating the incident. Once the investigation is complete, the information will be referred to the Lake County prosecutor’s office for review.

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KENTUCKY
WDRB

Updated: Aug 21, 2015

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Dr. Brian Reynolds and Archbishop Joseph Kurtz will conduct a press briefing at today at the Chancery at 212 East College Street to discuss allegations against St. Margaret Mary priest Stephen Pohl. The press conference is set to start at 1 p.m.

WDRB will stream the news conference live when it begins.

The Archdiocese tells WDRB it met with parents Thursday night to discuss the case. The Archdiocese says he’s on leave while the FBI determines if he possessed or distributed child pornography.

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INDIANA
ABC 7

HAMMOND, Ind. (WLS) — A northwest Indiana pastor will undergo a psychological evaluation after police found him wandering naked at a school building on Sunday, according to a statement from the Diocese of Gary.

Father William O’Toole, who was the pastor at St. Casimir and All Saints churches, both in Hammond, Ind., stepped down from his role at the two Catholic churches and will be on a leave of absence during the evaluation.

“Bishop Donald J. Hying was made aware of the event and begin taking the appropriate actions in accordance with our Safe Environment and diocesan policies,” the statement 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.

OREGON
Inquisitr

Ysrael Bien, an Oregon priest on the run, has been accused of installing a hidden camera within the wall socket of a men’s restroom at the St. Francis Catholic Church in Sherwood, Oregon, where he worked.

The Philippine native has reportedly gone back to his home country, with a spokesman for the church stating that there was no way they could have prevented him from traveling.

“The church has no ability to confiscate a priest’s passport,” said spokesman David Renshaw in comments reported by Opposing Views. “We are not a law enforcement agency and do not have the authority to take such a document.”

The church had suspended Ysrael Bien from leadership duties in June, and police believe he left the country shortly thereafter on June 30.

The hidden camera he allegedly hid in the men’s restroom was discovered by a 15-year-old boy. Police speculate that if they are able to extradite Bien from the Philippines, he will face misdemeanor charges of invasion of privacy, tampering with evidence, and initiating a false police report, the Oregonian notes.

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OREGON
KGW

Portland Archbishop Alexander Sample spoke with KGW’s Tim Gordon about Father Ysrael Bien, a Sherwood priest who waited nearly a month to report a hidden camera found in a church bathroom.

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OREGON
The Oregonian

By Emily E. Smith | The Oregonian/OregonLive
on August 20, 2015

The Archbishop of Portland sent a letter to parishioners Thursday afternoon addressing the case of a Sherwood priest who apparently left the country as police investigated the hidden camera discovered in his church’s bathroom.

Church leaders say they learned on July 29 that the Rev. Ysrael Bien had gone to The Philippines.

Sherwood police learned the same about three weeks later when they went to arrest him Tuesday in Portland. Investigators now believe he left the country on June 30, six days after he was suspended from leading the congregation at St. Francis Catholic Church.

Read Archbishop Alexander Sample’s letter to parishioners.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
JTA

By Suzanne Pollak

August 20, 2015

WASHINGTON (Washington Jewish Week via JTA) – When prominent Washington, D.C., Rabbi Barry Freundel was arrested last year for secretly videotaping dozens of women using the mikvah, the ritual’s sense of sacredness was shattered for some local Jewish women.

Local artist Rena Fruchter recently spearheaded a community project to put the pieces back together: A mural created by female members of Orthodox Ohev Sholom – The National Synagogue in Washington inside their mikvah.

After months of work, the mural was dedicated on Sunday.

The project gave the women “something they could own, something they could feel part of,” said Fruchter. It allowed them to take “something shattered; make something whole.”

“We have a broken system. We don’t throw it out. We take the pieces. We put them together and make something beautiful together.”

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 AUGUST 20, 2015

The Rev. Thomas Andert, the prior at St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, has been removed from his leadership position following an allegation of student sex abuse.

The allegation was made in a letter by a former student at St. John’s Preparatory School, where Andert served as headmaster from 1988 to 1994. It alleges abuse about three decades ago. The abbey is not providing details of the complaint.

“We asked Father Andert to step back from public ministry and from his work until an investigation is completed,” said abbey spokesman Aelred Senna in an e-mail.

Andert, who was ordained in 1975, held key positions at the abbey, St. John’s University and a Twin Cities Catholic school. He was president of Benilde-St. Margaret’s School in St. Louis Park from 1981 to 1987, during which time he also served as associate pastor at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Parish in St. Louis Park.

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
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

Will Newark Archbishop John Myers Be at Papal Events in U.S. Next Month? Yet Another Sordid Tale of Clerical Abuse (and Cover-Up) from Newark Diocese

A question that comes to my mind as I read Mark Mueller’s article at Religion News Service about New Jersey priest Manuel Gallo Espinoza, who is now being sought by New Jersey authorities after he has admitted raping a 15-year-old boy, Max Rojas Ramirez:

Will Newark archbishop John Myers be attending the various east coast events next month featuring Pope Francis? I would imagine so. And what about Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore and Bishop Paul Loverde of Arlington, Virginia, in whose dioceses Espinoza worked after, it now appears, Newark church officials knew that Espinoza had molested a minor?

I would imagine they, too, will be at the various events to honor Pope Francis next month.

As Mueller reports, Espinoza is blaming the boy he raped and claiming that Ramirez seduced him. He has published an extraordinary statement to this effect.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

A royal commission decision to hear from retired Catholic bishop Geoffrey Robinson has been welcomed by a key organisation representing survivors of abuse in institutions.

Author and theologian Bishop Robinson, who will give evidence on Monday at a public hearing of the child sex abuse royal commission, is described as a “voice in the wilderness” within the church by Care Leavers Australasia Network (CLAN).

CLAN – which has 1000 members, the oldest aged 90 – is a support, advocacy, research and training network for people who grew up in Australian orphanages, children’s homes, foster care and other institutions.

The network’s executive officer, Leonie Sheedy, said Bishop Robinson has actively supported the rights of care leavers and abuse survivors for many years.

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SOUTH DAKOTA
Capital Journal

By Stephen Lee stephen.lee@capjournal.com

The senior pastor of Morningside Community Church in Brookings says he and the congregation are trying to minister to “everyone involved,” in the sex crime of a former pastor sentenced this week to prison. The congregation changed its name late last year to Abundant Life.

Tim Bariteau, Morningside’s worship pastor until last summer, is headed to prison after being sentenced this week to eight years for having sexual contact with a child.

Bariteau, 38, was sentenced to 12 years in prison with four years suspended, according to news reports. Because it was ruled a crime of violence, he must serve at least half the time before he’s eligible for parole, Brookings Radio reported. He faced a maximum sentence of 15 years.

He will be credited with 305 days he’s served since his arrest and he must register as a sex offender and pay restitution to the victim.

Bariteau was indicted last November and arrested in California, where he had been living. He was convicted in June after a Brookings County jury deliberated for about five hours, according to The Associated Press.

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.

NEW ZEALAND
Fiji Village

By Swastika Singh
Friday 21/08/2015

The judge is yet to sum up the case in relation to the trial of a pastor of a Fijian fellowship church in Hutt Valley.

The Crown earlier told the jury that the two girls did not plan an elaborate set of allegations of sexual abuse about the pastor they knew.

Prosecutor Ian Murray closed the Crown’s case of 42-year-old pastor of the Kingdom Ambassador International Fellowship Church Jone Conikeli saying it defied belief that an 11-year-old had hatched a plan for revenge on Conikeli for introducing her recently bereaved father to another woman.

Murray told the court that Conikeli took opportunities to touch the two complainants in inappropriate ways while one was sleeping and when visiting the other’s home.

Defence lawyer Chris Nicholls said Conikeli was a man of God, a married family man with no convictions, who had earned the right to be taken at his word.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

AAP

A Catholic bishop who more than a decade ago called for an end to the worldwide cover-up of child sex abuse by the church will take the stand at a royal commission hearing in Sydney.

Former Sydney Auxiliary Bishop Geoffrey Robinson, who helped write the church’s sex abuse policy in Australia, will give evidence at a public hearing of the abuse royal commission on Monday.

The retired bishop will be questioned on the history and development of the Catholic Church’s approach to abuse victims, and the 1996 establishment of Towards Healing, the internal church process for handling allegations.

The process has had mixed success.

Bishop Robinson, an expert on canon or church law, has for many years been outspoken on child sex abuse.

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MAINE
Portland Press Herald

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

A Freeport man ordered to pay $14.5 million in damages to a Haiti orphanage founder he accused of sexually abusing boys is asking for a new trial.

A jury ordered Paul Kendrick to pay $7 million to Michael Geilenfeld, founder of St. Joseph’s Home for Boys.

Kendrick must also pay $7.5 million to North Carolina-based Hearts with Haiti after an email campaign that Geilenfeld says resulted in his being imprisoned for 237 days in Haiti and cost the charity millions in donations.

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
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, Aug. 20

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

We’re saddened but not surprised that another St. John’s cleric is accused of child sex crimes. For decades, this Catholic school has been a hotbed of abuse and cover ups.

[Minnesota Public Radio]

And for years, the institution has postured as being “ahead of the curve” on abuse when in fact that’s a deceitful claim.

We hope that anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered assaults or cover ups by Fr. Tom Andert or any current or former St. John’s staff will call police and prosecutors immediately. That’s the only safe course of action – trusting in the independent, unbiased professionals in law enforcement.

We appeal particularly to those who used to work for or attend the school. We suspect dozens of these individuals have knowledge or suspicions that should be reported to secular authorities. We hope no one is naieve enough to report them to church figures.

Fr. Andert is the school’s second in command.

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VICE News

The widespread reaction to the now-public trove of stolen user data from extra-marital dating service and social network Ashley Madison has generally not been one of sympathy — but it is quickly becoming clear that there is a darker effect of the massive hack, which could now be threatening people lives.

On Tuesday, a hacktivist group called Impact Group posted nearly 10 gigabytes of Ashley Madison users’ personal information online, including email and street addresses, partial credit card numbers and transaction details, passwords, physical descriptions, and partial names.

But the data is not limited to emails and names — it also includes deeply personal information about people’s sexual preferences and habits. In other words, if you had an account on Ashley Madison, everyone in the world can now see if you are interested in cross-dressing, spanking, or any of the other 62 available sexual fantasy categories on the site. …

According to a partial list of Ashley Madison users posted on PasteBin.com, there is at least one iran.gov email. In Iran adultery is illegal, and can be punished with stoning, lashing, or death. There are also more than 100 Vatican email addresses on the Pastebin list. If these are linked to the identity of priests, the users could be ex-communicated from the Catholic 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.

UNITED KINGDOM
Catholic Herald

A number of Vatican addresses are listed among the 37 million users

People working at the Vatican are reportedly among the 37 million users of infidelity website Ashley Madison.

Websites of at least two dozen people with the .va address are among those who had signed up to meet married people for liaisons. There are also 15,000 people with US military addresses and 140 British government workers.

The 9.7 gigabyte file called “Time’s Up!” was posted on the internet by hackers, and includes names ages, addresses, phone numbers and credit card details.

The business works on the promise of anonymity and the motto “Life is short. Have an affair”. The hackers from the “Impact Team” carried it out because they the people are “cheating dirtbags”.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

Names of 37 million cheating spouses are leaked online: Hackers dump huge data file revealing clients of adultery website Ashley Madison – including bankers, UN and Vatican staff

By MARTIN ROBINSON and ELLIE ZOLFAGHARIFARD FOR MAILONLINE

Hackers today outed millions of cheating spouses using the Ashley Madison infidelity website by publishing all their personal details and sexual fantasies online.

The names, ages, addresses, phone numbers and credit card details of up to 37million users including 1.2million in the UK were revealed in a 9.7 gigabyte file called ‘Time’s Up!’ posted on the dark web.

Bankers, civil servants, UN peacekeepers and even Vatican employees have been outed by hackers from the Impact Team because they are considered ‘cheating dirtbags’.

The Ashley Madison website, which is known as the ‘Google of cheating’, has called the data breach ‘an act of criminality’ and the FBI is now investigating.

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
dotCommonweal

Grant Gallicho
August 20, 2015

Jared Fogel, thirty-seven, former Subway pitchman, video-game star, will plead guilty to possessing and transmitting child pornography (some of which depicted children as young as six), to traveling in order to pay for sex with minors (“the younger the better,” he told one of the seventeen-year-old girls he patronized, asking her to find more girls for him). In exchange, the government has agreed not to seek a sentence of longer than twelve and a half years (and Fogel won’t seek one shorter than five). A judge may decide to impose a stricter sentence.

Shawn Ratigan, forty-eight, former Catholic priest, catalyst for the removal of Robert Finn, the former bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph, admitted to creating and possessing child pornography, to taking surreptitious photos of five girls between the ages of two and twelve, to posing some of them, removing their clothing to expose their genitalia. In exchange, the prosecution sought and received a fifty-year sentence, which Ratigan has been serving since 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.

MINNESOTA
KARE

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – St. John’s Abbey says its No. 2 leader, the Rev. Tom Andert, has stepped aside because of an allegation of sexual misconduct involving a former student at Saint John’s Preparatory School.

The abbey’s spokesman, the Rev. Aelred Senna, tells Minnesota Public Radio that Andert will “step back from public ministry and from his work until an investigation is completed.”

Andert declined to comment.

Senna says the decision to remove Andert came in response to a letter sent earlier this month by a former student at Saint John’s Prep. He says the letter alleged sexual misconduct by Andert more than three decades ago but contained very few details.

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
Minnesota Public Radio

Madeleine Baran Aug 20, 2015

The prior of the monastery at Saint John’s Abbey has stepped aside because of an allegation of sexual misconduct involving a former student at Saint John’s Preparatory School, according to a spokesperson for the abbey in Collegeville, Minn.

The Rev. Tom Andert will “step back from public ministry and from his work until an investigation is completed,” the Rev. Aelred Senna, the abbey spokesperson, said in an email to MPR News. Andert declined to comment.

Senna said he did not know if the abbey had reported the allegation to law enforcement. “It is our policy to do that,” he said.

However, local law enforcement have no record of any report, according to Lt. Jon Lentz, of the Stearns County Sheriff’s Office, who searched records for the sheriff’s office and local police.

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MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

By: Mike Finnegan – August 18, 2015

The deadline to file timely proofs of claim in the Bankruptcy Court has come and gone. In total, over 600 claims were filed against the Archdiocese by the August 3, 2015 deadline. This included 407 abuse survivor claims.

Now that the deadline has passed, mediation will continue with the survivors, the Archdiocese and its insurance companies. In addition, the Archdiocese and its insurers will begin to evaluate and take a closer look at the claims.

Even though the deadline to file timely claims against the Archdiocese has passed, there are several issues remaining in the case. This includes issues such as what assets are available to pay survivors’ claims, whether there is insurance available to pay claims, and in some instances, how to address survivor claims involving the parishes, schools, and religious orders. These issues will take time to address and it could be a while before the case is resolved.

Not only do legal issues remain in the case, but some survivors are experiencing and addressing their own issues after recently sharing their stories (some for the first time) and disclosing the secrets they’ve kept for so long. Survivors represented by our office can contact us to be connected to therapists and other support services while the case proceeds.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on an article that appeared yesterday in the Trentonian by L.A. Parker about the Catholic Church:

Looks like the Trentonian wants to compete with the Philadelphia Inquirer as the most anti-Catholic newspaper in the area. The contribution of L.A. Parker puts it in the running.

Follow this if you can. Some guy who worked for a fast food restaurant, Jared Fogle, recently plead guilty to having sex with minors. So if Pope Francis does not apologize for crimes he had absolutely nothing to do with, he should stay at home next month.

I’m not making this up. This is the mind of Mr. L.A. Parker. He would have been better off just showcasing his ignorance and bigotry by simply launching into a diatribe against the Catholic Church. There was no need to offer a segue that is so forced that even a high school dropout would laugh at it.

To demonstrate why the pope should apologize, Parker trots out “Billy,” a guy who claims to have been molested by Philly priests and teachers. That was a mistake. “Billy” is a drug- dealing, congenital liar. But who cares about the facts when the goal is to smear the Church.

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UNITED STATES
Yahoo! Celebrity

Josh Duggar has confessed to cheating on his wife Anna Duggar, just one day after the emails of millions of users on infidelity website Ashley Madison were exposed, including the eldest Duggar son’s information.

In a statement released on the Duggar family’s official website on Thursday, Aug. 20, Josh admitted to being unfaithful to his wife Anna, also the mother of his four kids.

“I have been the biggest hypocrite ever. While espousing faith and family values, I have secretly over the last several years been viewing pornography on the internet and this became a secret addiction and I became unfaithful to my wife,” he wrote. “I am so ashamed of the double life that I have been living and am grieved for the hurt, pain and disgrace my sin has caused my wife and family, and most of all Jesus and all those who profess faith in Him.”

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NEW MEXICO
Gallup Independent

Published in the Gallup Independent, Gallup, N.M., Aug. 18, 2015

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Independent correspondent
religion@gallupindependent.com

ALBUQUERQUE – Attorneys for the Diocese of Gallup, its insurers and clergy sex abuse claimants met for a second round of court-ordered mediation in Albuquerque Wednesday and Thursday, but once again the mediation talks stalled.

In a hearing before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge David T. Thuma Friday, attorneys praised the efforts of the new mediator, attorney Frank “Dirk” Murchison, but indicated disputes over insurance coverage — and money — were at the heart of the stalemate.

Attorney James Stang, legal counsel for the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors, which represents the interests of clergy sex abuse claimants, told Thuma “the fact we’re here this morning and that we’re not all smiling” indicated that the mediation was unsuccessful. Several other attorneys, however, expressed the belief that a mediated settlement was still a possibility.

“Nobody walked out and told Mr. Murchison that nobody was going to call him again, and he made it very clear that he remains available to continue to work,” Susan G. Boswell, the diocese’s lead bankruptcy attorney, told the court.

Objections and apology

Friday’s hearing was scheduled as a preliminary hearing on the motions for relief from the automatic stay filed by three clergy sex abuse claimants. An automatic stay is an injunction that halts lawsuits against the debtor once a bankruptcy petition is filed.

Two of the sex abuse claimants had filed lawsuits in Arizona against the Diocese of Gallup prior to the diocese filing its Chapter 11 petition in November 2013. The third claimant recently filed a clergy sex abuse lawsuit in Arizona in spite of the automatic stay. The three claimants, who are represented by Phoenix attorney Robert E. Pastor, are requesting that Thuma lift the stay and allow their clergy sex abuse cases to proceed to trial in an Arizona state court.

The first half of Friday’s hearing was devoted to disagreements about those motions: whether they were filed with the proper legal terminology and procedures, and what court might possibly have jurisdiction over them. Attorneys for the diocese and its insurers all filed objections to the motions.

Diocesan attorneys pointed out that the diocese had removed the first pending lawsuits to the Arizona Bankruptcy Court in February 2014, and subsequently the venue was transferred to the New Mexico Bankruptcy Court, where the cases are pending as adversary proceedings. In bankruptcy court, adversary cases are separate lawsuits filed within a bankruptcy case.

Stang, who submitted a memorandum in support of Pastor’s motions, apologized to the court for forgetting that the cases had been removed. He suggested that Pastor will file new motions to correct the error and cover the proper legal bases.

Diocesan attorneys also argued that the deadline to remand the cases has expired, but if Thuma allows the cases to proceed to trial, they will not go to the Arizona state court but rather they will go to U.S. District Court where they will face a long wait.

A final hearing on the matter is slated to be scheduled in October.

Shifting conflicts

The issue of insurance coverage, or how much money insurance companies should contribute to a settlement, dominated the remainder of the hearing and appears to be the major logjam that is obstructing the settlement talks.

The insurance discussion also revealed the shifting conflicts and allegiances between the Diocese of Gallup and its insurers.

David Spector, an attorney for Catholic Mutual, advised Thuma that his company is planning to file an adversary case against the New Mexico Property and Casualty Insurance Guaranty Association possibly this week, and he said Catholic Mutual would be asking Thuma for an expedited resolution of the dispute.

The guaranty association provides protection to the Diocese of Gallup for the insurance policies the diocese had from 1965 to 1977 with the Home Insurance Company, which is now insolvent.

“It’s a coverage issue that could materially advance the resolution of this case,” Spector said, explaining Catholic Mutual had just recently become aware of the issue. “It involves very considerable amounts of money, and it’s important and it involves positions taken by the New Mexico Guaranty Fund.”

Edward A. Mazel, an attorney for the guarantee association, appeared to be caught off guard by Spector’s announcement. The day before, Mazel had joined both the Diocese of Gallup and Catholic Mutual in their objections to the stay relief motions. In April, the two insurers were allies in their public dispute with the diocese regarding their requests for more information about sex abuse claims.

“It changes the whole dynamic, and I’m not sure that’s the best way to proceed here,” Mazel said of Spector’s plans to file an adversary case. Mazel argued that an attempt to amicably resolve the insurance coverage issues should be made before litigation is pursued.

Boswell urged both insurance providers to work cooperatively to resolve the insurance coverage dispute.

“If I could manufacture money — legally — I’d have this case resolved tomorrow,” Boswell said. “I can’t do that. And the diocese alone does not have the resources in order to get this case resolved without the participation of its insurers.”

Thuma concluded the hearing by reminding the attorneys about their mounting legal fees and expenses.

“Let’s all stay reminded of the fact we’re running this for the creditors and not the professionals,” he said. “And if we end up with no money for the abuse survivors, that’s going to be a failure of the whole process. And I’d consider that I failed, and that you all had too. Let’s avoid that scenario.”

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.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, Aug. 20

Statement by SNAP leader Karen Polesir (267-992-9463, karenpolesir@yahoo.com)

We are both sad and glad that a civil child sex abuse and cover up lawsuit against Philly Catholic officials has settled.

[Philadelphia Inquirer]

We’re glad because this brave victim deserves healing, justice and closure. But we’re sad because when cases like this go to trial, more complicit Catholic officials are exposed.

We hope this resolution will prod others who saw, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes or cover ups in Philadelphia to come forward, expose predators, protect kids and start healing. We also hope it brings some measure of comfort to anyone who may have been hurt by Fr. Edward Avery, Fr. Charles Engelhardt, Catholic teacher Bernard Shero or other predators, be they priests, nuns, seminarians, brothers, bishops or other church staff.

Finally, we hope it will also help remind everyone that clergy sex crimes and cover ups are best dealt with in the open, impartial and time-tested secular justice system, not behind closed doors in chancery offices with secretive and self-serving Catholic bureaucrats.

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.

TEXAS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Aug. 20

Statement by Amy Smith, Dallas co-leader of SNAP (281-748-4050, watchkeepamy@gmail.com)

A Dallas area hospital may close soon but before it does, its staff should aggressively reach out to anyone who may have been hurt by an ex-employee who is an admitted sex offender.

[The Dallas Morning News]

In 2014, Jordan Root admitted his crimes:

[document]

In 2014, Jordan Root admitted his crimes:

[document]

For three years (from 2011 to 2014), Root worked for Timberlawn Mental Health System in Dallas.

Timberlawn officials put kids in harm’s way by hiring Root. The very least they can do now is to seek out and help anyone with information or suspicions about his crimes and beg them to call police and prosecutors. Using news releases, employee announcements and letters to ex-patients, Timberlawn officials should help find and support others who may have been hurt by Root and beg them to call law enforcement.

We urge current and former Timberlawn staff and patients to come forward if they saw, suspected or suffered child sex crimes or other wrongdoing by Root (or cover ups of Root’s crimes by others at the hospital). Kids will be safer if Root is prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned. And that just might happen if Timberlawn officials and employees act responsibly and aggressively reach out to those he might have assaulted at the facility.

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 August 20, 2015

The UN Committee for the Rights of the Child recently released their “Concluding observations on the combined fourth and fifth periodic reports of Mexico.”

Much in the June 5 report wasn’t surprising: drug cartels are recruiting and using children for violence and children have been murdered and/or have gone missing in non-state violent activities. The committee also stated that migrant children are being targeted for abuse, killings and sexual violence.

But sections 35 and 36 of the report were striking (emphasis mine):

35. The Committee is deeply concerned about corroborated reports that hundreds of children have been sexually abused for years by clerics of the Catholic Church and other religious faiths The Committee is particularly concerned about the general impunity which perpetrators have enjoyed so far, as recognized by the State party’s delegation, about the low number of investigations and prosecutions of the perpetrators as well as alleged complicity of state officials, as well as about the lack of complaints mechanisms, services and compensation available to children.
36. The Committee strongly urges the State party to:
(a) Take immediate measures to investigate and prosecute all members of the Roman Catholic clergy and other religious faiths involved in or accomplices of sexual abuse and exploitation of children, and ensure that those found guilty be provided with sanctions commensurate with the gravity of their crime;
(b) Provide children victims of sexual abuse with all necessary services for their physical and psychological recovery and social reintegration, and adequately compensate them;
(c) Ensure that specific measures taken to prevent sexual abuse by clerics become part of all policies related to violence against children and that empowered children learn how to protect themselves from sexual abuse and are aware of the mechanism they can refer to in case of such abuses;
(d) Take concrete measures to raise awareness on this type of abuse in order to overcome social acceptance and taboo surrounding these crimes;

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
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, Aug. 20

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

We are glad an Ohio man is being charged with child sex crimes. And we call on anyone in the Wapakoneta Ohio area who may have seen, suspected or suffered his crimes to call law enforcement immediately.

We also applaud the brave victim who is helping prosecutors pursue this abusive pastor. And we call on current and former church members and staff to aggressively seek out others who may have been hurt by this preacher.

[StarNews]

Donald Dwayne Ramsey is charged with felony second-degree sexual offense. He was arrested last month at his home in Wapakoneta, Ohio and was a youth pastor at Peace Baptist Church in North Carolina.

Too often, in clergy sex abuse and cover up cases, law enforcement focuses only on clerics who commit child sex crimes and ignore church staff who conceal child sex crimes. We urge police and prosecutors to investigate whether others at Peace Baptist may have ignored or hidden Ramsey’s crimes. If so, they should also be prosecuted.

And too often, in these cases, church officials do little or nothing to help police and prosecutors. We urge members, volunteers and employees at churches in Ohio and North Carolina where Ramsey spent time to work hard to find those who may have seen, suspected or suffered Ramsey’s crimes and beg them to call secular authorities.

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
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, Aug. 20

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

The spokesman for Portland’s Catholic archbishop is either lying or dead wrong about the church’s ability to supervise sex offender clergy.

David Renshaw claims that church officials could not have taken Fr. Ysrael Bien’s passport. (Fr. Bien has fled to the Philippines despite his facing charges of using a hidden camera in a church restroom.)

[OregonLive]

That’s simply not true. Archbishop Alexander Sample could have insisted that Fr. Bien give him his passport the minute the camera was discovered.

Priests can’t do whatever they want. They can’t date, marry, masturbate or volunteer for Planned Parenthood. They can’t live or work where they want, take Sundays off.

Priests can’t even say whatever they want. (Watch what happens if one of them advocates married or women clergy.)

The church is a monarchy. The bishop is the lord of his kingdom, the diocese. Every priest must swear to obey his bishop. And bishops often use their nearly limitless power to discipline priests who disobey them.

There’s a simple test that proves Renshaw is wrong or lying. Have you ever heard of a priest successfully suing his bishop for anything? Nope. It doesn’t happen. And one reason why: priests, like Catholic laypeople, are essentially powerless serfs in an ancient, rigid, medieval hierarchy in which bishops have vast, almost unchecked power. (Ever heard of a priest filing a grievance against his bishop through the International Union of Priests? Nope. There is none.)

Here’s a hypothetical: What if we’re wrong? What if Sample had taken Fr. Bien’s passport and later, a higher ranking church official told Sample he erred and must return the passport? That would have been virtually unprecedented in Catholic history: a bishop criticized for doing TOO MUCH – instead of TOO LITTLE – to protect kids. What a stunning breath of fresh air that would have been. We suspect that Portland Catholics would have enthusiastically rallied around a bishop who took strong action against a suspected criminal cleric.

So we call on Archbishop Sample, who refuses to give interviews about the Fr. Bien case, to honor his pledges to be “open and transparent” about clergy sexual abuse. He should answer questions in public about his role in this troubling case. And he should issue an apology and correction today about the misleading, self-serving comments of his spokesman.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
KLFY

[with video]

A former student of the St. Paul’s School tells CBS News the faculty was aware of the “Senior Salute” ritual, in which senior boys tried to meet up with younger female students, reports CBS News correspondent Anna Werner.

“It’s generally more cute than malicious. And the person approached can always say ‘No,”‘ the recent graduate said.

She said she knows the teenage girl who has accused 19-year-old Owen Labrie of rape at the elite New Hampshire prep school, as well as the defendant.

She said the school was aware of the tradition and terms associated with it, such as “scoring” — or hooking up — and “the score web” — a wall where participants would write their names.

“I remember a few times specifically when the words ‘Senior Salute’ were brought up and faculty definitely addressed it,” she said.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
New Hampshire Public Radio

By PAIGE SUTHERLAND

Thursday Aug. 20, 11:30 AM:

In day three of the St. Paul’s rape trial in Concord, the alleged victim pushed back against the defense’s aggressive questioning.

The 16-year-old former freshman at the elite prep school was on the stand for more than 8 hours before being dismissed at around 11 a.m.

When J.W. Carney, a high profile defense lawyer who represented mobster Whitey Bulger, asked the alleged victim about her interview with Concord Police last June, the accuser repeatedly asked to see the transcript before answering.

She also made sure Carney read the entire script including all the “umms and likes.” When she repeatedly told Carney to rephrase the question or tried to elaborate on answers, Carney raised his voice and ordered the judge to have her answer his questions with a yes or no. But the judge said she had a right to explain herself.

And when pushed on why she was dazed after the alleged incident with then senior Owen Labrie – she broke down.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
Boston.com

By Allison Manning @allymanning
Boston.com Staff | 08.20.15

A prep school girl who accuses a senior of raping her left the courtroom in tears Tuesday after a defense attorney accused her of giving mixed messages: laughter when they were together, and “hahahas” in messages following the encounter.

J.W. Carney spent about 90 minutes questioning the girl, who says she agreed to meet Owen Labrie and went willingly with him to a secluded room in a building on the campus of St. Paul’s School on May 30, 2014. She was 15 years old at the time; Labrie was two days away from graduating.

The rendezvous was part of a longstanding game called Senior Salute, in which graduating seniors tried to hook up with as many people as possible before they left campus. Prosecutors say Labrie and his friends were in a contest to see how many girls they could “slay.”

The girl, who Boston.com is not naming, told Labrie he could “count” their encounter toward his numbers.

Labrie maintains the hookup was consensual, and that they never had penetrative sex. The girl says it was rape, even if she didn’t kic

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
NBC News

[with video]

by JON SCHUPPE

A girl who says she was raped at an elite New England prep school broke down on the witness stand Wednesday when her alleged attacker’s lawyer pointed out inconsistencies in how she described the circumstances surrounding her encounter with the older student.

The outburst happened as defense attorney Jay Carney pressed the 16-year-old girl on why some of her recollections at the trial differed from those she outlined in a police interview five days after the alleged May 2014 attack in a secluded room at the top of a campus building at the St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire.

The girl said her mind had been “cloudy” when she spoke to a detective.

“Why were you cloudy?” Carney asked.

“I was raped,” the girl said, crying suddenly. “I was violated in so many ways. Of course I was traumatized. I was cloudy because I was traumatized.”

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
USA Today

John Bacon, USA TODAY August 20, 2015

A rape trial linked to an unsettling ritual at an exclusive New England prep school marched grimly into its third day Thursday with the teen accuser facing intense scrutiny from the lawyer representing the teen defendant.

Defense lawyer J.W. Carney concluded his cross examination of the alleged victim, who was a 15-year-old freshman in May 2014 when she says fellow student Owen Labrie lured into a secluded room on the sprawling, 2,000-acre campus of St. Paul School in Concord, N.H.

Labrie, 19, was an 18-year-old, Harvard-bound senior within days of graduation. Both teens have acknowledged their encounter was linked to “senior salute,” apparently a school tradition involving seniors “scoring” some type of sex-related conquests from younger students.

The girl, now 16, testified that Labrie began kissing her roughly and that over her objections the encounter regressed into forcible rape. She testified she felt “powerless” and “frozen” when Labrie became aggressive — and that she initially blamed herself for not fighting back. She admitted to nervously laughing during the encounter.

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NEW JERSEY
Ring of Fire

Accused of raping a 15-year-old boy, a former New Jersey priest has justified his disgusting actions by stating that the boy had “evil” thoughts and “wanted” sex, reported RawStory. The victim, Max Rojas Ramirez, has filed a lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Newark.

Ramirez, 28, was 15 years old when Rev. Manuel Gallo Espinoza raped him. Espinoza has since vanished. Ramirez first encountered Espinoza during confession when Ramirez was eight-years-old. “I was looking for guidance and trying to figure out all these things, and eventually I came to tell him about the attraction I had toward guys,” said Ramirez.

Espinoza took advantage of Ramirez’s confusion and befriended the young man. One night, Ramirez spent the night at Mt. Mary’s Rectory, at Espinoza’s request, and was sexually assaulted by him.

“It hurt, I was in pain,” said Ramirez. “My eyes popped open, and he had his whole body on top of me. He started touching me and kissing me. I was shaking. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t talk.”

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VIRGINIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Aug. 19

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

A predator priest worked for three years in a northern Virginia school after raping a boy and fleeing overseas. We urge Virginia school officials and Arlington Bishop Paul Loverde to immediately and aggressively seek out anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered the cleric’s crimes.

have seen, suspected or suffered the cleric’s crimes.

A new report says that Fr. Manuel Gallo Espinoza of the Newark Archdiocese admits molesting a boy. When a victim spoke up, two church officials urged him to fly home, Fr. Espinoza says. So he escaped to Equador, and later returned to the US, teaching for years in Virginia and Maryland. Now, Fr. Espinoza is back in Equador, still teaching.

In 2003, Fr. Espinoza fled to South America. From 2005-2008, he worked at Beville Middle School (703-878-2593) in Dale City/Woodbridge Virginia in the Arlington diocese. From 2008-Feb. 28, 2014, Fr. Espinoza taught at Parkdale High School in Prince George’s County, Maryland.

This is beyond tragic. It’s inexcusable. And it’s proof that little is changing in the Catholic hierarchy.

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UNITED STATES
Religion News Service

Christine Wicker | August 18, 2015

(RNS) Franklin Graham’s annual compensation of $880,000, revealed in a Charlotte Observer story, has some worrying that too many top Christian nonprofit leaders as well as pastors are seeing themselves as CEOs instead of as God’s servants.

Graham, son of renowned evangelist Billy Graham, is head of Samaritan’s Purse, an international relief agency based in Boone, N.C.

“Basically they are saying if Satan pays well, God should pay better,” said Maria Dixon, a Southern Methodist University professor of corporate communications and public affairs. Dixon, a United Methodist Church deacon and a minister’s wife, specializes in studying and helping nonprofit religious organizations.

CEOs at the top 50 U.S. charities, including Samaritan’s Purse, earn in the $350,000 to $450,000 range, which makes Graham’s $622,000 salary from his aid organization alone about 40 percent to 50 percent higher than average, according to a Forbes story. He receives the rest of his $258,000 compensation as CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
Town and Country

St. Paul’s, the historic New England boarding school, is under fire. Owen Labrie, a recently graduated senior, is on trial in Concord, New Hampshire, where the school is located, for allegedly sexually assaulting a fellow student at the end of the recent school year. Labrie’s lawyer has argued that his client was motivated by the 151-year-old, formerly all-male school’s tradition of predatory sexual behavior, specifically blaming the “senior salute,” a ritual in which older students proposition underclassmen.

As the case gathers attention (local media are reportedly overwhelmed by requests from their national cohorts), graduates of the school, who can be found throughout the highest positions of government, business and the media, are having an intense, behind-the-scenes debate about whether the school’s culture promotes transgression. Here’s what a few of them are saying. No one interviewed below agreed to be identified. ​

“People in every high school, everywhere, hook-up. It happens. Just because students at St. Paul’s have put a name on senior guys doing it, it’s easier to crucify them for it. Not that it’s right if anyone gets hurt under the guise of it, but no one should take issue with an old tradition that not even everyone does.”
Male, 2004 Graduate

“Everyone knows about senior salutes, but not everyone takes them seriously. It’s not like a mandatory thing at St. Paul’s. There’s no pressure. I feel like they’re [the press; the courts] trying to make it out to be that our school, in this department at least, is so much different than every other boarding school out there. It’s not. We just put a name to these things people talk about and do in their own ways.” Female, 2004 Graduate

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OREGON
KGW

SHERWOOD, Ore. – An arrest warrant has been issued for Father Ysrael Bien, a Sherwood priest who waited nearly a month to report a hidden camera found in a church bathroom to the police.

A break in the case came last week when a customer query led the owners of a Texas company called SpyGuy to Google the original story about the scandal. They determined that someone named Ysrael Bien had purchased a spy camera disguised as an electrical plug and called Sherwood police.

Father Bien of the St. Francis Church in Sherwood was placed on administrative leave June 24, according to a spokesman for the church.

The warrant issued to him was for personal invasion of privacy, tampering with physical evidence and initiating a false report was issued August 18.

Officials at the Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon issued a statement late Tuesday that said they were “saddened” that prosecutors brought criminal charges against Bien.

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NEW JERSEY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Aug. 19

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

A predator priest worked for three years in a northern Virginia school after raping a boy and fleeing overseas. We urge Virginia school officials and Arlington Bishop Paul Loverde to immediately and aggressively seek out anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered the cleric’s crimes.

A new report says that Fr. Manuel Gallo Espinoza of the Newark Archdiocese admits molesting a boy. When a victim spoke up, two church officials urged him to fly home, Fr. Espinoza says. So he escaped to Equador, and later returned to the US, teaching for years in Virginia and Maryland. Now, Fr. Espinoza is back in Equador, still teaching.

In 2003, Fr. Espinoza fled to South America. From 2005-2008, he worked at Beville Middle School (703-878-2593) in Dale City/Woodbridge Virginia in the Arlington diocese. From 2008-Feb. 28, 2014, Fr. Espinoza taught at Parkdale High School in Prince George’s County, Maryland.

This is beyond tragic. It’s inexcusable. And it’s proof that little is changing in the Catholic hierarchy.

It’s heartbreaking that Catholic officials apparently told a suspected child molesting cleric to run from the law. It’s heartbreaking that church staff did little or nothing to help warn police, prosecutors, parents, parents and the public about him. And it’s heartbreaking that the priest has been around kids ever since, later returning to the US to teach and continuing to teach even now in Equador.

[NJ.com]

We call on police and prosecutors to pursue criminal charges against the Newark archdiocesan officials – and any others – who helped Fr. Espinoza evade the law. We firmly believe that if law enforcement officials are brave, determined and hard-working, they will be able to successfully charge and convict high ranking Catholic staffers who may have obstructed justice, shredded evidence, intimidated victims, discredited whistleblowers, stonewalled police, deceived prosecutors, refused to report child sex crimes or violated any number of other laws.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

AAP

A Russian Orthodox priest has been charged with grooming and indecent assault offences against a 15-year-old boy.

Police allege the priest, 33, who arrived in Australia in 2013, had been communicating with a 15-year-old Belarusian boy over the internet.

In July 2014, the 15-year-old arrived in Australia and stayed in accommodation at the inner west church where the priest lived.

Sex Crimes Squad investigators arrested the priest and charged him with three counts of aggravated indecent assault, one count of child grooming and one count of detaining for advantage.

The priest has had his visa cancelled by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, and is being held in the Villawood Detention Centre.

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AUSTRALIA
New South Wales Police Force

Russian Orthodox Priest charged for committing offences against 15-year-old boy – SCC Sex Crimes Squad

Thursday, 20 August 2015 05:34:59 PM

A Russian Orthodox priest has been charged with numerous offences including child grooming, indecent assault and detain for advantage.

In July 2014, detectives from the NSW Police Force’s Sex Crimes Squad and AFP officers formed Strike Force Zama to investigate allegations concerning a man in his 30s.

Inquiries revealed that a 32-year-old Russian Orthodox Priest, who had arrived in Australia in 2013, had been communicating with a 15-year-old Belarusian boy over the internet.

In July 2014, the 15-year-old arrived in Australia and stayed in accommodation at the Inner West (Sydney) church where the priest resided.

Police made contact with the priest and the teen on Tuesday 22 July 2014 and both were interviewed.

The priest subsequently had his visa cancelled by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, and was detained in Villawood Immigration Detention Centre.

Yesterday (Wednesday 19 August 2015), Sex Crimes Squad investigators attended Villawood Immigration Detention Centre where they arrested the priest, now aged 33.

He was charged with a number of offences, including:

– Three counts of aggravated indecent assault;
– One count of grooming a child under 16 years for unlawful sexual activity; and
– Once count of detain for advantage.

Refused bail, he appeared before Bankstown Local Court yesterday and was remanded in custody to next appear at Burwood Local Court on 14 October 2015.

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OREGON
KPTV

By FOX 12 Staff

SHERWOOD, OR (KPTV) –
Police say a receipt and shipping information linking a Sherwood priest to a hidden bathroom camera, is what prompted them to issue a warrant for his arrest Tuesday.

Investigators say a security company in Dallas, Texas is to thank for essentially breaking the case wide open.

Sherwood police say they were suspicious of Priest Ysrael Bien for months, but did not have enough evidence to arrest him, for hiding that camera in a church bathroom.

They tell FOX 12 one call from SpyGuy Security changed everything.

SpyGuy Security Owner Allen Walton says their wall socket hidden camera is one of their top selling products, and many of people by them for many of reasons.

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OREGON
The Oregonian

By Emily E. Smith | The Oregonian/OregonLive
on August 19, 2015

The Archdiocese of Portland learned that one of its priests had left the country this summer during an investigation into a hidden camera found at his church. The archbishop says he tried to convince the priest to return, but he refused.

Church leaders discovered on July 29 that the Rev. Ysrael Bien was in The Philippines, an archdiocese spokesman said. But they don’t know whether the priest, who is now wanted on misdemeanor charges, plans to return.

Acting on new information that linked Bien, 34, to the spy camera, Sherwood police were ready to arrest him on Tuesday.

“Unfortunately, we had no idea that he had left,” said Capt. Ty Hanlon. “Not until yesterday did we learn that he was out of the country.”

When detectives went to Bien’s last known residence in Portland, another priest there told them Bien was gone.

Investigators now believe he left on June 30, six days after he was suspended from leading the congregation at St. Francis Catholic Church.

At that time, Bien was a person of interest but not a suspect in the case, Hanlon said. The department was still pursuing other leads and didn’t have the resources to follow the priest, he said.

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TENNESSEE
Memphis Flyer

POSTED BY BIANCA PHILLIPS ON WED, AUG 19, 2015

Two Memphis men — a pastor and a former reserve police officer — have been indicted on separate child pornography charges, according to two back-to-back press releases from the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee.

Oak Hill Missionary Baptist Church pastor Demarcus Smith, who is also a member of the Baptist Ministerial Association, was indicted on child pornography possession charges. On numerous occasions between August 2014 and May 2015, Smith, who is 32 years old, reportedly coerced a boy, who was under 18, to take pictures of himself engaging in sexual conduct and then to send those images to Smith’s cell phone.

Smith faces a minimum sentence of 10 years imprisonment if convicted of coercion/solicitation of a minor and a minimum of 15 years if convicted of production of child pornography. He also faces up to 20 years imprisonment if convicted of receipt of child pornography, and he faces up to $250,000 in fines per offense.

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TENNESEE
WREG

AUGUST 19, 2015, BY GEORGE BROWN

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Memphis, TN – A former Memphis pastor has been indicted on child pornography possession charges.

Prosecutors say Demarcus Smith coerced a male under the age of 18 to take pictures of himself engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

This allegedly happened between August 2014 and May 2015.

Smith was a pastor at Oak Hill Missionary Baptist Church in South Memphis and member of the Baptist Ministerial Association.

A deacon at Oak Hill told WREG over the phone the church let Smith go when allegations surfaced in April.

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TENNESSEE
WMC

MEMPHIS, TN (WMC) – A Memphis pastor has been indicted on child pornography charges.
Investigators said Demarcus Smith, 32, coerced a boy to take pictures of himself engaging in sexually explicit conduct and send him the pictures.

Smith is a pastor at Oak Hill Missionary Baptist Church in South Memphis. He’s also a member of the Baptist Ministerial Association.

Investigators said he coerced the boy between August 2014 and May 2015.

“It’s sickening. It’s extremely sickening, not just for the community’s sake, but to the bible itself,” said Lakisha Davis. To the people, to what you’re supposed to represent, it’s sad.”

Davis said her young son visited Oak Hill often.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Bolton News

Andrew Bardsley, reporter / Wednesday 19 August 2015

A FORMER priest has been found guilty of sexually abusing a boy in vicarages in Bolton and Atherton.

Frank Baldwick was convicted by a jury of nine men and three women at Bolton Crown Court.

They took just 90 minutes to return guilty verdicts on the two counts of indecent assault.

The offences — which date from the late 1970s when Baldwick was the Church of England vicar of St Michael’s Great Lever, and then of St Anne’s Hindsford, Atherton — were committed against a boy aged between 11 and 13 at the time.

Baldwick, now aged 91, appeared in court wearing a navy blue suit and carrying a walking stick.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

JEREMY ROEBUCK, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
LAST UPDATED: Thursday, August 20, 2015

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia has settled a civil lawsuit brought by an accuser whose testimony helped convict two Catholic priests and a former parish-school teacher on sexual abuse charges, and aided in the unprecedented prosecution of a church administrator for covering up the priests’ crimes.

In filings Tuesday, Common Pleas Court Judge Jacqueline F. Allen said the plaintiff – a 26-year-old man identified only as “Billy Doe” – had “settled any and all claims” against the archdiocese and two former church officials. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

A spokesman for the archdiocese did not return calls for comment Wednesday, nor did lawyers for Doe.

Their agreement – first reported by the legal blog BigTrial.net – is at least the third this year between the church and its accusers.

Previous agreements have contained clauses barring the parties from discussing their deals publicly.

Doe’s story was arguably the most disturbing in a landmark 2011 report by a Philadelphia grand jury outlining decades of clergy sex abuse in the region.

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SCOTLAND
Highland News

Written by Eilidh Davies

POLICE this week revealed a report had been passed to the Procurator Fiscal in relation to allegations of historical abuse against nine men at the former Fort Augustus Abbey school.

The move came as the Catholic Church has issued a “profound” apology to victims of child sex abuse following a damning report which was published this week.

The McLellan Commission was set-up to investigate abuse in the wake of the shocking allegations of sexual and physical abuse by monks at Fort Augustus as well as other scandals including the resignation of the former leader of the church in Scotland, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, following revelations that he made sexual advances to priests.

The report was published this week and called on the church to make an “unmistakeable and unequivocal” apology and “heal the hurt” of victims.

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CALIFORNIA
Santa Barbara Independent

Thursday, August 20, 2015
by NICK WELSH

Judge Colleen Sterne expressed serious skepticism that allegations of sexual abuse by a former youth minister with the Carpinteria Community Church met the broad legal definition of “public nuisance,” but she gave attorney Tim Hale, representing one of the alleged victims, a chance to refile his complaint. Hale contends that Louis Bristol, made a youth minister as a teen with the Carpinteria church in 2000, began having a sexual affair with a 16-year-old girl who belonged to the congregation. Despite reports this was going on in 2003, Hale contends the church never filed a police report. Likewise, no reports were made ​— ​no warnings issued ​— ​when other complaints of sexual misconduct surfaced 10 years later.

Sterne’s ruling addressed the legal questions underpinning the case, not the facts of the allegations. In her ruling, Sterne made it clear she was comfortable with legal arguments based on negligence by the church but not public nuisance. Hale, who specializes in sweeping, institutional sex-abuse cases, claims the public-nuisance argument allows greater leeway to explore ​— ​and expose ​— ​an intentional policy of cover-up among church higher-ups. It also, he said, provides the greatest opportunity for injunctive relief.

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NEW ZEALAND
Fiji Village

By Swastika Singh
Thursday 20/08/2015

A 42-year-old pastor of a Fijian fellowship church in Hutt Valley has denied all allegations against him when giving evidence in his defence in Wellington District Court.

Stuff.co.nz reports that Jone Conikeli, pastor of the Wellington chapter of Kingdom Ambassador International Fellowship church gave evidence in his defence against sexual assault and indecency charges involving girls who were 15 and 11 at the time of the incident.

The Crown has alleged that he touched the two girls, and tried to have sex with the older one.

He knew both through family and friends.

Conikeli told the jury that he never went to the older girl’s house when the parents were away as the Crown has alleged.

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NEW ZEALAND
Stuff

Two girls did not concoct an elaborate set of allegations of sexual abuse about a pastor they knew, the Crown has told a jury.

Prosecutor Ian Murray closed the Crown’s case to the Wellington District Court jury on Thursday in the trial of the pastor of the Kingdom Ambassador International Fellowship church Jone Draiva Conikeli.

Murray said it defied belief that an 11-year-old had hatched a plan for revenge on Conikeli for introducing her recently bereaved father to another woman.

Instead the two complainants were supporting each other, he said, finding strength to come forward once they had talked about it.

Murray said Conikeli took opportunities to touch the two complainants in inappropriate ways, while one was sleeping or when visiting the other’s home.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Kate Aubusson
Journalist

A Russian Orthodox priest has been charged with child grooming and indecent assault of a 15-year-old boy.

Detectives from the sex crimes squad arrested the 33-year-old man at the Villawood Detention Centre on Wednesday in connection to the alleged abuse of the teenager.

The Russian orthodox priest, who arrived in Australia in 2013, had been communicating with the 15-year-old Belarusian boy over the internet.

The teen arrived in Australia in July 2014 and moved in with the priest at a church in Sydney’s inner west.
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At the time, sex crimes squad detectives and the AFP formed Strike Force Zama to investigate allegations concerning the priest’s behaviour.

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MISSOURI
National Catholic Reporter

Elizabeth A. Elliott | Aug. 19, 2015

KANSAS CITY, MO. The Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., currently without a sitting bishop since the April resignation of Bishop Robert Finn, is reaching out with healing services to those sexually abused by priests.

The services, Healing Our Parishes through Empathy (HOPE), are the first of their kind in this diocese, according to Carrie Cooper, director of the Department of Child and Youth Protection.

The services, which are not Masses, are being held at various times and locations over the next 10 months, culminating with a Service of Lament June 26, 2016, at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.

The services are being led by Archbishop Joseph Naumann of the neighboring Kansas City, Kan., archdiocese, who is the temporary administrator of the Missouri diocese.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Exchange

KEVIN O’BRIEN

I have always hated the word “Detachment” and suspected that this virtue is misunderstood in Catholic circles, even though Catholic Exchange has a very solid article on it by Fr. Bob Camuso, a tremendously insightful article by Roman Guardini, and a view on Detachment as seen through the novels of C.S. Lewis by Jessica Archuleta.

Still, there always seemed to me something inhuman about “Detachment”, especially since some of the more austere saints have insisted that it includes a kind of stoic distancing even from family and friends and people that we love. And even if these saints are right, so much of Devout Catholic emphasis these days is on rejecting the more natural side of love, the love of desire which seeks attachment (Eros), in favor of the more unnatural side of love, the love of self-denial and abnegation for the sake of the beloved (Agape), that this emphasis sometimes plays havoc with the common sense and spiritual development of these same Devout Catholics. And yet not only are both aspects of love part of a unified whole, love is not fully love without both Eros and Agape, according to Pope Benedict XVI in his encyclical Deus Caritas Est. Love that is merely detached can become clinical and objectifying; love that is merely attached can become clinging and possessive.

So what does this do to “Spiritual Detachment”? Everything, I think. For if we see Spiritual Detachment from the point of view of love, it begins to make sense. …

The most egregious example of failing to love with a proper perspective, of failing to make the sacrifices required of Christian of love, of failure to put First Love First, is the Sex Abuse Scandal within the Catholic Church. A church that prioritizes fundraising, corporatism, and public relations over the very safety of innocent children is a church that no sane person would trust, for it is a church that appears not to be able to make even the simplest and most obvious of sacrifices to serve its most vulnerable members. Attachment to children requires Detachment from those who harm them — removing problem priests and not hushing their crimes up and reshuffling them — a Detachment that some administrators, both in the religious and secular worlds, have been unwilling to make.

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WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette

By Brian Lee
Telegram & Gazette Staff

Posted Aug. 19, 2015

WORCESTER – A retired Roman Catholic priest has pleaded not guilty to federal wire fraud charges alleging he claimed more than $91,000 in wire transfers from three states, and sent $2,500 to Nigerian accounts during the past two years from what the indictment described as the proceeds of “unlawful activity.”

The Rev. Thomas B. Fleming of the Worcester Diocese was arraigned Friday in U.S. District Court on 12 counts of money laundering.

In addition to Nigeria, the alleged scheme involves participants in Connecticut, Illinois and California, according to the five-page indictment.

Rev. Fleming, of Worcester, is accused of knowingly conducting and attempting to conduct financial transactions affecting interstate commerce, and knowing that the property involved in the financial transaction represented the proceeds of some form of unlawful activity. The illegal activity was not described in the indictment.

Rev. Fleming allegedly used Western Union to wire transfer $1,000 to “O.W.” in Nigeria on Jan. 11, 2013, and used Western Union to wire transfer $1,500 to “K.A.” in Nigeria on Feb. 11, 2014, according to the indictment.

It is further alleged that the following wire transfers went into Rev. Fleming’s TD Bank account: $8,000 from Jane Doe #1 in California on Aug. 12, 2013; $2,400, $27,000 and $5,000 from Jane Doe #2 in Connecticut on Aug. 30, 2013, Sept. 26, 2013 and Oct. 8, 2013, respectively; $3,575 from Jane Doe #3 in Illinois on Sept. 3, 2013; $10,000, $5,500, $3,250, and $7,535 from Jane Doe #4 in California on Nov. 27, 2013, Dec. 5, 2013, Dec. 11, 2013, and Dec. 27, 2013, respectively.

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NEW JERSEY
New Jersey 101.5

By Dino Flammia August 19, 2015

If charges are filed against a former New Jersey priest who reportedly confessed to engaging in sexual conduct with a teenage boy over a decade ago, it can’t be guaranteed that he’ll be returned to American soil to face those charges.

Through online comments and in talks with NJ Advance Media, Rev. Manuel Gallo Espinoza admitted to making a “mistake once” in the rectory of a Plainfield church in 2003. That confession, however, came from Ecuador, the 51-year-old’s native country, where he’s been since February 2014.

The report noted the Union County Prosecutor’s Office reopened its investigation into the priest, who had been accused by the victim days after the alleged incident. Charges have not been filed yet, despite the new information.

In a conversation with New Jersey 101.5 FM, criminal defense attorney Howard W. Bailey in Newark said even if officials do decide to charge Gallo Espinoza, it puts no pressure on his home country to return him to the U.S.

The two countries share an extradition treaty, but it’s up to each country how they interpret it.

“It’s up to that other country to decide whether or not they’re going to be sending the individual back,” Bailey said. “I believe that Ecuador does not have a very high percentage of cases that they send people back on.”

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UNITED STATES
Gawker

Ashley Feinberg

In 2013, conservative reality TV star Josh Duggar—of TLC’s 19 Kids and Counting fame—was named the executive director of the Family Research Council, a conservative lobbying group in D.C. which seeks “to champion marriage and family as the foundation of civilization, the seedbed of virtue, and the wellspring of society.” During that time, he also maintained a paid account on Ashley Madison, a web site created for the express purpose of cheating on your spouse.

In May 2015, Duggar was forced to resign after In Touch Weekly reported that he had molested five young girls (four of whom were his own sisters) beginning in 2002. When the accusations became public, the family went into crisis mode, insisting that Josh had reformed and that the media covering the claims was intent on “exploiting women.”

Josh himself took to his family’s Facebook page to absolve himself of his past indiscretions and assure the world he was back on a righteous path:

Twelve years ago, as a young teenager I acted inexcusably for which I am extremely sorry and deeply regret. I hurt others, including my family and close friends. I confessed this to my parents who took several steps to help me address the situation. We spoke with the authorities where I confessed my wrongdoing and my parents arranged for me and those affected by my actions to receive counseling. I understood that if I continued down this wrong road that I would end up ruining my life. I sought forgiveness from those I had wronged and asked Christ to forgive me and come into my life. I would do anything to go back to those teen years and take different actions. In my life today, I am so very thankful for God’s grace, mercy and redemption. …

But data released online in the wake of the hack on Ashley Madison’s servers certainly seems to show otherwise. Someone using a credit card belonging to a Joshua J. Duggar, with a billing address that matches the home in Fayetteville, Arkansas owned by his grandmother Mary—a home that was consistently shown on their now-cancelled TV show, and in which Anna Duggar gave birth to her first child—paid a total of $986.76 for two different monthly Ashley Madison subscriptions from February of 2013 until May of 2015.

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OREGON
Catholic Sentinel

Ed Langlois
Of the Catholic Sentinel

SHERWOOD — Police now say Father Ysrael Bien, on administrative leave from his role as pastor of St. Francis Parish in Sherwood, purchased a spy camera later found in a church bathroom.

Records uncovered by the Oregonian newspaper show the 34-year-old priest logged onto a spy gear website in March to buy the $295 camera, which was disguised as an electrical outlet. A Washington County judge on Tuesday issued an arrest warrant for Father Bien on charges of invasion of privacy, tampering with evidence and initiating a false report — all misdemeanors.

“It is gravely troubling to find out that one of our priests has been charged with criminal misconduct, but we appreciate the diligence of the Sherwood Police Department in pursuing its investigation of the incident,” says Archbishop Alexander Sample. “We will continue to cooperate with authorities in the resolution of this matter. Our prayers are with parishioners of Saint Francis Church, Sherwood, and all who have been affected.”

Meanwhile, Father Bien has left the country to visit family in The Philippines.

Archdiocese of Portland officials did not know Father Bien was departing until after the fact. Archbishop Alexander Sample has sent emails to Father Bien, asking him to return. Father Bien answered an initial email saying that it seems best for him now to be with family. Father Bien so far has not responded to a second request from the archbishop.

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OREGON
KOIN

Amy Frazier and KOIN 6 News Staff

SHERWOOD, Ore. (KOIN) — A Catholic priest who had been a person of interest in the case of a camera hidden in a bathroom left the country in June, and the Archdiocese of Portland did not tell police he was gone.

When Sherwood police went to arrest Fr. Ysrael Bien on misdemeanor charges, they learned he left for The Philippines more than a month ago, a development Sherwood Police Capt. Ty Hanlon called “discouraging.”

“We’ve never been contacted by (the archdiocese) specifically with that kind of information,” Hanlon told KOIN 6 News. “It’s discouraging. We had hoped that we were working together with them on this case. To hear that information is certainly discouraging.”

The case began in June. Police said a teenager discovered a camera disguised as an outlet on a bathroom wall at St. Francis Catholic Church in Sherwood.

He allegedly told Fr. Bien about the camera, who then told the boy he would report it to police. But the priest never reported the discovery, despite telling the boy’s parents he did.

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UNITED STATES
The Trentonian

By L.A. Parker, The Trentonian
POSTED: 08/19/15

Former Subway spokesman Jared Fogle intends to plead guilty to possession of child pornography charges and sexual solicitation of minors, a confession that gained national and world attention.

News outlets plastered Fogle’s face across flat screen televisions and printed pages as the man known for a sandwich diet that helped him drop hundreds of pounds, made a deal with the feds.

A document released by prosecutors in Indianapolis accused Fogle of trolling for underaged female sex partners in New York City, plus, other incidents that tied him to child porn videos and photos.

The Fogle admission connected to a September arrival of Pope Francis as he attends the World Meeting of Families. Yeah, we all get pissed off with guys like the former Subway guy but a long list of Catholic priests have violated hundreds if not thousands of victims.

If Pope Francis visits Philadelphia without a major apology available to all Catholic church related victims of sexual abuse and their families, especially those affected by clergy members of the Philadelphia Archdiocese, then his Holiness should stay home.

Victims and relatives deserve a private meeting with Pope Francis before his Holiness voices an apology in front of a world audience. If Jared Fogle gets exposed for his wrong doing then priests must face similar social reactions.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
Chicago Tribune

A lawyer for a recent graduate of an elite prep school accused of raping a freshman last year began cross-examining his accuser Wednesday, asking whether she told her close friend in graphic details which sex acts she was prepared to engage in.

Nineteen-year-old Owen Labrie is charged with raping the then-15-year-old girl at St. Paul’s School in Concord two days before he graduated last year.

Defense attorney J.W. Carney, reading from a Concord police affidavit detailing the friend’s interview, asked the accuser if she had talked to her friend about what she would let Labrie do to her.

The girl responded that she had no recollection of that.

She testified that Labrie bit her breast and tried to pull her underwear off in a school building on May 30, 2014. On the witness stand, the girl said she was in pain when he bit her and during intercourse but said nothing to Labrie, who was 18 at the time.

“I’m thinking how naive of myself, and I never should have left my room that night,” she testified. “I felt like I was out of my body. … I didn’t want to believe this was happening to me.”

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NEW JERSEY
Daily Mail (UK)

Ex-priest, 51, accused of ‘raping’ 15-year-old parishioner says boy ‘wanted’ sexual encounter

By KIRI BLAKELEY FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

A priest admitted to inappropriate behavior with a teenage parishioner, according to NJ.com.

The 51-year-old priest, Rev. Manuel Gallo Espinoza, fled the country in 2003 after Max Rojas Ramirez, then 15, says he was raped by the priest.

The alleged pedophile priest came out of hiding long enough to talk to a reporter from NJ.com and admitted to having sex with the teen, who is now 28, in a bedroom of the rectory at St. Mary’s Church in Plainfield.

‘I didn’t force him to do anything he didn’t want,’ he reportedly told the journalist.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
The New York Times

By JESS BIDGOOD
AUG. 19, 2015

CONCORD, N.H. — The 16-year-old girl sat on the witness stand here, her hair pulled back in a ponytail. She tried to speak steadily as she told a jury about the night when a ritual at St. Paul’s — one of the country’s elite boarding schools — turned into what she described as a shocking sexual assault.

It had been days away from graduation last year, the season of a campus rite called the “senior salute,” when older students ask younger ones to join them for a walk, a kiss, or more. The girl, 15 and a freshman at the time, had agreed to follow a suitor, Owen Labrie, then 18, to the rooftop of a campus building to which he had a key.

Then, she said, he took her into a dark maintenance room. When they kissed, she did not object. But soon he began to grope her; he bit her chest too, she said, and tried more than once to remove her underwear.

“I said, ‘No, no, no, keep it up here,’ ” said the girl, signaling above her waist. “I tried to be as polite as possible.”

She described Mr. Labrie “scraping” the inside of her body with his hands. “When he got deeper and deeper I felt a lot of pressure. But other than that I tried to block out the feeling as much as I could,” the girl said. She said Mr. Labrie then penetrated her, with his hands on her shoulders. “It had to be his penis,” said the girl.

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SCHOTTLAND
kath.ch

Edinburgh, 18.8.15 (kath.ch) Die katholische Kirche in Schottland hat nach einem Kommissionsbericht zu Kindesmissbrauch die Opfer um Vergebung gebeten. Sexueller Missbrauch von Minderjährigen sei ein «schreckliches Verbrechen», umso mehr, wenn es innerhalb der Kirche und durch Geistliche verübt werde, sagte der Vorsitzende der schottischen Bischofskonferenz, Erzbischof Philip Tartaglia, am Dienstag, 18. August, in Glasgow. Die Bischöfe seien «beschämt und schmerzerfüllt» angesichts des Leidens der Opfer. «Wir bitten um Vergebung.»

Am gleichen Tag hatte eine unabhängige Kommission die katholische Kirche Schottlands aufgefordert, «Unrecht» im Zuge des Skandals um sexuellen Missbrauch anzugehen. Noch anhängige Fälle müssten «absolut vorrangig» behandelt und die Opfer entschädigt werden, heisst es im Abschlussbericht der sogenannten McLellan-Kommission. Zudem müsse die Kirche ihre Schutzmassnahmen verbessern.

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SCHOTTLAND
Katholisch

Rüge für Schottlands Bischöfe: Eine unabhängige Kommission hat die katholische Kirche Schottlands aufgefordert, “Unrecht” im Zuge des Skandals um sexuellen Missbrauch anzugehen. Noch anhängige Fälle müssten “absolut vorrangig” behandelt und die Opfer entschädigt werden, heißt es im Abschlussbericht der sogenannten McLellan-Kommission. Zudem müsse die Kirche ihre Schutzmaßnahmen verbessern.

Bei einer Pressekonferenz am Dienstag forderte der Vorsitzende, der reformierte Geistliche Andrew McLellan, die katholischen Bischöfe auf, sich “unmissverständlich und unwiderruflich” bei den Opfern zu entschuldigen. McLellan weiter: “Die Bischöfe haben seit unserer Einsetzung erklärt, dass sie unsere Empfehlungen annehmen werden.” Daher würden in nächster Zeit drei Dinge geschehen: die katholische Kirche werde sich den Verletzungen der Betroffenen stellen, sich “mit ihrer dunklen Seite auseinandersetzen und Heilung für sich selbst suchen” und Schritte suchen, um ihre “Glaubwürdigkeit wiederherzustellen”.

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DEUTSCHLAND
NOZ

[Many open questions after abuse scandal.]

Von Carola Alge

Meppen. Sind 8000 Euro für sexuelle Übergriffe, die ein Menschenleben völlig verändert haben und das nach Angaben des Betroffenen kein normales mehr ist, zu wenig? Natürlich, wird die erste Reaktion vieler sein.

Missbrauch jedoch, wie ihn Jürgen M. auch durch einen früheren Pater des Meppener Maristen-Klosters erlebte, lässt sich nicht durch (höhere) Geldzahlungen ungeschehen machen, lässt tiefe Wunden der Seele der Opfer nicht einfach so heilen. Umso wichtiger ist es, dass die katholische Kirche weiter konsequent Aufklärungsarbeit betreibt, Täter aus ihren Reihen nicht schützt, indem sie sie von A nach B versetzt. Papst Franziskus setzte im vergangenen Jahr ein Zeichen, als er sich mit Opfern sexuellen Missbrauchs traf. Warum aber dauert die Aufarbeitung der Fälle und Akten mittlerweile Jahre? Warum können sich Bischöfe und Wissenschaftler wie der Kriminologe Christian Pfeiffer immer wieder nicht verständigen? Warum ist mit Ergebnissen des aktuellen Aufklärungsversuchs frühestens 2017 zu rechnen?

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DEUTSCHLAND
NOZ

{Meppener priest abused a boy in home.]

Meppen. Die Idylle trügte. Hinter den malerischen Mauern des Hänsel-und-Gretel-Heims (heute Marie-Mattfeld-Haus) in Oberammergau wurde Jürgen M. (Name von der Redaktion geändert) offensichtlich sexuell missbraucht. Von katholischen Geistlichen. Einer der Täter war, wie er gegenüber unserer Redaktion erklärt, ein Meppener Maristen-Pater. Der Geschädigte kämpft nun um Geld.

Rückblende. Der heute 52-Jährige kommt 1966 in das Heim mit der Postkartenfassade, das vielen Touristen als beliebtes Fotomotiv dient. Jürgen M. ist damals drei Jahre alt. Die ersten drei Jahre erlebt er eine Heimzeit ohne Vorfälle. Gut drei Jahre später jedoch kommt es, wie er gegenüber unserer Redaktion schildert, zu den ersten sexuellen Übergriffen. Fünf Jahre lang sei er gepeinigt worden. – Opfer kämpft um Entschädigung: Meppener Pater missbrauchte Jungen in Heim | noz.de – Lesen Sie mehr auf: http://www.noz.de/lokales/meppen/artikel/607621/meppener-pater-missbrauchte-jungen-in-heim?piano_t=1

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ECUADOR
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Aug. 19

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

A priest who admits abusing a US boy now teaches in Ecuador. We beg Ecuadorian school, church and law enforcement officials to warn parents and the public about him and prosecute him if possible.

A new report says that Fr. Manuel Gallo Espinoza admits molesting a boy in New Jersey. When a victim spoke up, two Catholic officials urged him to fly home to Ecuador, Fr. Espinoza says. So he escaped home, later returned to the US (where he taught in two other states) but is back in Ecuador, still teaching.

In 2003, Fr. Espinoza fled to South America. From 2005-2008, he worked at Beville Middle School (703-878-2593) in Dale City/Woodbridge Virginia in the Arlington diocese. From 2008-Feb. 28, 2014, Fr. Espinoza taught at Parkdale High School (310-513-5700) in Prince George’s County, Maryland.

This is beyond tragic. It’s inexcusable. And it’s proof that little is changing in the Catholic hierarchy.

It’s heartbreaking that Catholic officials apparently told a suspected child molesting cleric to run from the law. It’s heartbreaking that church staff did little or nothing to help warn police, prosecutors, parents, parents and the public about him. And it’s heartbreaking that the priest has been around kids ever since, later returning to the US to teach and continuing to teach even now in Ecuador.

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WEST VIRGINIA
Logan Banner

By Fred Pace
fpace@civitasmedia.com

A former Ridgeview pastor has been charged for molesting a child for a second time.

James Robert “J.R.” Smith, 25, was a pastor at the Morningstar House of Prayer in Ridgeview in Boone County in October of last year when he was charged with sexually abusing a young boy in Fayette County, acccording to a criminal complaint filed in the case.

Smith has been out on bond on that charge, while Fayette County prosecutors are preparing to present the case to a grand jury.

However, a warrant was issued by the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department for Smith on Monday, Aug. 10, 2015, following his arrest on Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2015, for allegedly molesting a child in Indiana.

Some members of Robert’s family became irate outside of the courthouse and tried to attack an Eyewitness News reporter and cameraman, according to a report by WCHS-TV.

Last year, in October, Smith was initially charged with first degree sexual abuse and sexual abuse by a parent or guardian on a warrant out of Fayette County issued by the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office.

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NEW JERSEY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Aug. 19

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

It’s heartbreaking to learn that, once again, New Jersey Catholic officials told a predator priest to flee the US to evade police. And it’s equally heartbreaking to learn that the priest later returned to the US and got a job around kids and remains a teacher even now.

[NJ.com]

A new report says that Fr. Manuel Gallo Espinoza of the Newark Archdiocese admits molesting a boy. Two church officials urged him to fly home, Fr. Espinoza says. (One is Fr. Jevie Hercules. The other is Antonino Salazar, who headed a church youth group.)

So Fr. Espinoza escaped to Equador, returned to the US and taught for years, but is now back in Equador still teaching.

We call on police and prosecutors to pursue criminal charges against the Newark archdiocesan officials who helped Fr. Espinoza evade the law. We firmly believe that if law enforcement officials are brave, determined and hard-working, they will be able to successfully charge and convict high ranking Catholic staffers who may have obstructed justice, shredded evidence, intimidated victims, discredited whistleblowers, stonewalled police, deceived prosecutors, refused to report child sex crimes or violated any number of other laws.

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OREGON
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Aug. 19

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

If an Oregon Catholic priest wanted by the law has fled overseas, we suspect his church supervisors told or encouraged him to do so.

We’re saddened but not surprised by the news that Father Ysrael Bien of Sherwood may have left the country. Over the past 26 years, we’ve seen dozens or hundreds of cases like this in which accused sex offender priests have left the US, escaping law enforcement, while their Catholic colleagues and supervisors claim to be “shocked.”

(Just today, an admitted Newark predator priest says two fellow church staff told him to escape to Equador, where he’s now a school teacher.

See Newark Star Ledger story about Fr. Manuel Gallo Espinoza:

[NJ.com].

We’re glad that charges have at last been filed against Fr. Bein. We join the police in asking anyone with any information about abuse or cover up to come forward at once.

In the future, Archbishop Aleander Samples and other Catholic church officials should insist that accused predator priests turn over their passports to their bishops so there’s no chance they can flee overseas.

We hope that law enforcement will investigate whether individual church officials helped Fr. Bien escape. If so, we hope they will be charged. That’s the only real way to deter cover ups in the Catholic church in the present and future.

A prosecutor recently called the St. Paul archdiocese’s claim to monitor accused priests “a sham.” We strongly suspect this is true of church “monitoring” claims all across the US.

“We were falsely led to believe that the Archdiocese had an effective program in place” to monitor priests, that prosecutor, John Choi, said. He’s one of tens of thousands who’ve been misled by Catholic officials.

So for the safety of kids and the prevention of more crimes, we strongly urge anyone with information or suspicions about Fr. Bien call police, expose wrongdoing, protect kids and start healing.

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OREGON
The Oregonian

By Emily E. Smith | The Oregonian/OregonLive
on August 18, 2015

Father Ysrael Bien logged on to a spy-gear website and paid $295 for the hidden camera that was discovered last spring in a Sherwood church bathroom, according to information turned over to police this week.

The camera, designed to look like an electrical outlet, came from the online retailer SpyGuy Security based in Dallas, Texas. Police served a search warrant for transaction records there Monday after the business tipped them off.

A Washington County judge signed a warrant Tuesday for Bien’s arrest on misdemeanor charges of invasion of privacy, tampering with evidence and initiating a false report, but police think the priest may not be in the U.S.

They did not find him at his last known address in Sherwood. Another priest there told them that Bien had left the country. Officers believe Bien left on June 30, said Capt. Ty Hanlon, a police spokesman.

Bien, who led the congregation at St. Francis Catholic Church, has been on administrative leave since June 24, when the Archdiocese of Portland suspended him because of his involvement in the investigation.

Church leaders learned that Bien had gone to visit family in The Philippines only after he’d left, the archdiocese said.

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DAVID EDWARDS
19 AUG 2015

A former New Jersey priest who is accused of raping a 15-year-old boy said this week that the teen had “evil” thoughts and “wanted” to have sex.

Earlier this year, Max Rojas Ramirez filed a lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Newark alleging that he had been raped by Rev. Manuel Gallo Espinoza in a rectory bedroom at the age of 15.

Ramirez told NJ Advance Media that he did not know that he was speaking to Father Espinoza when he admitted in confessional that he was confused about his sexuality, which he said resulted from being molested by a male cousin at the age of 8.

“I was looking for guidance and trying to figure out all these things, and eventually I came to tell him about the attraction I had toward guys,” he recalled.

Not long after that, the priest contacted Ramirez and requested to see him in person, and then refused to take him home, insisting that he spend the night in the rectory.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

August 19, 2015 10:23 am | Author: berger

The most controversial cleric to come out of our town speaks next month in Ohio. “His Eminence Raymond Leo Burke” will deliver the keynote speech at Franciscan University of Steubenville, just following a “Pontifical High Mass in the Extraordinary Form” (i.e., in Latin). The topic: Pope Francis’ upcoming “Synod on the Family.” Burke will also be part of a one woman, nine man panel discussion on the family. The event is Sept. 8. …

. . .Two “credibly accused” predator priests who spent time in our town have been “outed” through a clergy sex abuse case in Minnesota. Fr. Robert J. Reinmeier worked at Holy Guardian Angels Parish and Fr. James Vincent Fitzgerald was at the St. Michael’s Community. Both belonged to the Belleville-based Oblate religious order. Fitzgerald’s deceased. Reinmeier’s whereabouts are unknown. .

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