ABUSE TRACKER

ROME
Crux

By John L. Allen Jr.
Associate editor October 14, 2015

ROME – Wednesdays in Rome generally belong to the pope, because that’s when he holds his weekly General Audience in St. Peter’s Square, and during the second week of the 2015 Synod of Bishops, Francis certainly found a way to put his stamp on what Americans often refer to as “hump day.”

The pontiff delivered an unexpected mea culpa at the beginning of his weekly audience, which was largely dedicated to the synod’s theme of family life.

“The word of Jesus today is strong: ‘Woe to the world for scandals’,” Francis said, referring to the Gospel reading in the daily Mass for Wednesday.

“Jesus is a realist, and said, ‘It’s inevitable that scandals happen, but woe to the one who causes those scandals’,” Francis said. …

In fact, the pope’s mea culpa in many ways functions as a Rorschach test for whatever individual observers happen to feel is the most scandalous aspect of Catholicism, or the Vatican, or even the city of Rome, at the moment.

Many Italians heard an echo of a recent scandal at a Roman parish run by the Discalced Carmelites religious order, where more than 100 members parishioners sent a letter to the Vatican charging that an official of the order was engaging in sexual relations with “vulnerable adults” in a nearby park.

Others assumed the pope was referring, at least in part, to recent ferment around Monsignor Krzysztof Charamsa, a 43-year-old Polish priest and minor Vatican official who used the eve of the synod to publicly announce that he’s gay and in love with a partner from Spain to whom he’s engaged.

Charamsa was quickly relieved of his Vatican position, but he continues to comment on his situation and the Church’s broader treatment of gays and lesbians from his new home in Barcelona.

Still others wondered if the pope was talking about a recent melodrama that broke out inside the synod itself, focusing on a letter signed by roughly a dozen cardinals – the precise number remains unknown – raising objections about the process being used.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Register

by EDWARD PENTIN 10/13/2015

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican spokesman said today that the leaking of a private letter sent to the Holy Father to bring to his attention some concerns about the synod on family unnecessarily disrupted the meeting.

Father Federico Lombardi told reporters that the “disruption” was unintended by the most authoritative signatories of the letter, and so “it would be inappropriate to allow it to have any influence.”

It was the first time Father Lombardi admitted the existence of the letter, published in full yesterday by veteran Vatican watcher Sandro Magister, but which was first revealed in some detail by fellow Vaticanista Andrea Tornielli last week. At a briefing yesterday, Father Lombardi said he had “nothing to confirm about the document, as it was a confidential one.”

One of the signatories of the letter, Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino, archbishop of Caracas, Venezuela, told the Register Oct. 13 that the incident is a “storm in a teacup” and that the matter “is a very small thing compared with the wonderful work that’s being done by the almost 400 people working at the synod.”

The letter alerted the Holy Father to some concerns regarding the composition and selection process of the drafting committee for the synod’s final report, the quality of the instrumentum laboris (working document) and excessive emphasis on the “theological/doctrinal issue of Communion for the divorced and civilly remarried.”

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VATICAN CITY
John Thavis

Pope Francis today made a brief, impromptu request for people to forgive the “recent scandals both in Rome and in the Vatican.” The problem in interpreting his remarks was that there are several scandals to choose from.

The gay official of the Vatican’s doctrinal congregation who recently came out with his partner, saying the climate at his workplace was homophobic? Accusations of sexual impropriety made by a group of Catholics against priests and an official of the Carmelite religious order in Rome? The resignation of Rome’s leftist mayor, Ignazio Marino, following press reports that the pope was unhappy with the mayor’s action on a number of issues?

The accusations of sexual abuse against a Vatican diplomat, who was found dead in his Vatican residence in late August before he could stand trial? Or this week’s leak of a “Letter of 13” cardinals to the pope, contesting the direction and methods of the current Synod of Bishops on the Family, which was followed by a series of confusing denials and clarifications?

“Jesus is realistic and it is inevitable that scandals occur,” the pope said at the start of his general audience in St. Peter’s Square. “But woe to the person who causes scandal. Before I start this catechesis, I’d like to ask you for forgiveness, in the name of the church, for the scandals that have occurred both in Rome and in the Vatican in recent times.”

Perhaps it’s likely that the pope had sexual abuse in mind. After his off-the-cuff remarks, he spoke in his regular audience talk about the place of children in the family. Every child trusts that he or she will be loved, the pope said, and “when that promise is broken, the result is a ‘scandal’ which Jesus condemns.”

But beyond sexual abuse, there is growing concern at the Vatican over the multiplication of scandals and a return of the “Vatileaks” syndrome – a climate of revelations, suspicion and rumors of a “gay lobby” that helped convince Pope Benedict XVI to resign in 2013. The most notorious chapter, played out in 2012, was the systematic leaking of papal documents to an Italian journalist by Benedict’s butler.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Oct. 14, 2015

VATICAN CITY As the prelates gathered for his worldwide meeting of Catholic bishops on family continued their deliberations Wednesday morning, Pope Francis took the extraordinary step of publicly apologizing to those gathered in St. Peter’s Square during his weekly audience for unspecified “scandals” caused by the church.

“Before beginning the catechesis, I would like to ask forgiveness in the name of the church for the scandals that have happened in this last period both in Rome and at the Vatican,” said the pontiff, speaking to thousands in the Square. “I ask forgiveness.”

Francis’ words, while unspecific, may be taken to mean that he wishes to apologize for the sometimes heated discussions resulting from his ongoing Oct. 4-25 meeting of the Synod of Bishops.

That meeting, which has drawn some 270 prelates to Rome, is discussing a range of issues — including sometimes controversial ones such as the church’s pastoral practice towards the divorced and remarried and its stance towards gay persons.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 14 October 2015 (VIS) – The Holy Father has appointed:

– Fr. Jonny Eduardo Reyes Sequera, S.D.B., as apostolic vicar of Puerto Ayacucho (area 184,000, population 231,000, Catholics 177,000, priests 30, religious 68), Venezuela. The bishop-elect was born in Caracas, Venezuela in 1952, gave his religious vows in 1976, and was ordained a priest in 1979. He holds a bachelor’s degree in theology from the Pontifical Salesian University, Rome, and a licentiate in moral theology from the Alphonsianum Academy, Rome. He has served in a number of roles, including local superior of the San Lucas Seminary in Caracas, local superior and provincial counsellor in the Don Bosco College of Valencia, provincial vicar, and provincial superior. He is currently master of novices. He succeeds Bishop Jose Angel Divasson Cilvetti, S.D.B., whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same apostolic vicariate upon reaching the age limit was accepted by the Holy Father.

– Bishop Roque Paloschi of Roraima, Brazil as archbishop of Porto Velho (area 84,696, population 680,000, Catholics 464,000, priests 44, religious 165), Brazil.

– Bishop Pablo Virgilio Siongco David, auxiliary of San Fernando, Philippines, as bishop of Kalookan (area 40, population 1,269,243, Catholics 1,173,422, priests 42, religious 70), Philippines.

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NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

Mark Mueller | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on October 14, 2015

A Roman Catholic priest under investigation for allegedly accepting more than $250,000 in cash and gifts from elderly parishioners at a Short Hills church has taken a leave of absence from his new parish while the criminal probe unfolds, his attorney said.

The Rev. Alex Orozco — now parochial vicar at the Church of the Nativity in Midland Park, Bergen County — is accused of lying to his former parishioners and taking advantage of their generosity by repeatedly sharing stories of financial distress, NJ Advance Media reported earlier this month.

The Archdiocese of Newark had previously said Orozco would remain in ministry while the investigation continued. On Tuesday, however, Orozco’s lawyer, Robert J. Degroot, said his client was stepping aside for an undetermined period of time.

“By mutuality, until all this stuff comes into some perspective, he is taking a leave,” said Degroot, who is representing Orozco at no cost. “I don’t know where he’s going to be staying, but he’s not going to be working in ministry until these things are sorted out.”

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VATICAN CITY
BBC News

Pope Francis has made a surprise public apology for recent scandals “either in Rome or in the Vatican”.

He made the apology at his weekly general audience in St Peter’s Square, but did not specify which scandals.

He is thought to be referring to a senior Polish priest who was dismissed from his Vatican post after announcing he was in a gay relationship.

The Pope’s spokesman said the pontiff had not been referring to the recent resignation of Rome’s mayor.

Federico Lombardi admitted to reporters that the Pope’s apology had been “broad and generic” but said it did not refer to “political” situations involving Mayor Ignazio Marino, who resigned earlier this week over an expenses scandal.

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MALTA
Times of Malta

by Matthew Xuereb

A 44-year-old priest, who is currently the chaplain of the airport chapel, was remanded in custody today after pleading not guilty to defiling three underage boys, participating in sexual acts with them and possession of child porn.

Fr Donald Bellizzi, who lives at a convent in Rabat, appeared under arrest before Magistrate Josette Demicoli. He was charged with defiling the children between 2010 and 2013, when they were still minors. They are now between 18 and 19 years old.

Police Inspector Joseph Busuttil told the court that the alleged abuse took place while the children were entrusted in his care and attended a vocation group that encouraged them to become priests. The group was composed of five boys but only three had alleged wrongdoing.

CHARGES BEING ‘STRONGLY CONTESTED’

Defence lawyer Giannella de Marco said her client was strongly contesting the charges being brought against him. She requested bail but the prosecution, which included police inspector John Spiteri, objected due to the vulnerability of witnesses in the case and also due to the possibility of tampering with evidence.

They said the witnesses all lived in the vicinity of Rabat and there were also witnesses who were priests living at the same convent.

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MALTA
Malta Today

Matthew Agius 14 October 2015

The 44-year-old chaplain of the airport chapel has been remanded in custody this morning after being charged with defiling three underage boys, participating in sexual acts with them and being in possession of child pornography.

Before Magistrate Josette Demicoli, Fr Donald Bellizzi was arraigned under arrest and charged with defiling the minors over the period between 2010 and 2013. The victims are now over 18.

The court heard police Inspector Joseph Busuttil accuse the cleric of abusing the three boys at a time when they were part of a group of five who were discerning their vocation to the priesthood. The other two boys did not report any abuse.

Defence lawyer Giannella de Marco requested bail, telling the court that her client was strongly contesting the charges.

Police inspector John Spiteri, prosecting, objected to this request on the grounds that the witnesses were vulnerable to manipulation and due to the risk of evidence being tampered with.
The witnesses all lived in the Rabat area and include other priests who reside at the same convent as the accused.

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ROME
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Oct. 14

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, SNAP outreach director (314-503-0003 cell, bdorris@SNAPnetwork.org)

Instead of stopping clergy sex scandals, Pope Francis is again asking forgiveness for them. That may be good public relations but it’s irresponsible leadership.

History, psychology and common sense show that you prevent sexual violence by harshly punishing those who enable sexual violence by ignoring or hiding it. It’s that simple.

But that takes courage, the courage that popes and bishops continue to lack.

Forgiveness is healthy. But it’s best done when harm is over, not while harm is still happening. And it’s a personal choice that affects each of us individually. Leadership, however, requires public choices that affect others. So it’s more important that Francis stop abuse than that we forgive him for it.

Our forgiveness doesn’t protect the vulnerable. Only Francis’ action can really do this. But asking to be forgiven is self-serving. It’s not taking action. It’s not safeguarding the vulnerable. It’s perpetuating, not preventing, sexual violence.

At some point, words become substitutes for deeds. Words can lead to complacency. That’s what’s happening here.

The notion that “At least Francis is talking about this” is not helpful. It implies that talking leads to doing, and that’s just not true in this crisis in this ossified, ancient, self-serving church hierarchy.

Not all noise is music. Not all motion is progress. Not all words are helpful. And words should never be mistaken for deeds. Only action protects innocent kids and vulnerable adults.

Finally, no Catholic asks for forgiveness in the confessional booth for “unspecified” misdeeds.

[National Catholic Reporter]

We must name our wrongdoing. We must insist on the same from Francis.

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MINNESOTA
City Pages

While many of the sexual abuse claims plaguing the Catholic church involve dead or retired priests, the latest lawsuit names a man still wearing the collar.

On Monday, Father Antonio Marfori was served a summons at Elk River’s Church of Saint Andrew, where he works as a sacramental minister.

In 1978, Marfori was a religion teacher at Cathedral High School in St. Cloud. According to attorney Jeff Anderson, Marfori coerced a then 15-year-old student into oral sex while on “a trip,” telling him fellatio “is what they do in the seminary.”

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ROME
dotCommonweal

Grant Gallicho
October 14, 2015

ROME—A couple of quick developments before the daily press briefing, where reports from the synod’s small-group discussions will be distributed.

First, before Pope Francis began his Wednesday catechesis, he offered a mysterious apology: “In the name of the church, I ask forgiveness for the scandals that recently have occurred in Rome and at the Vatican.” Then he delivered an address on the “scandal” of breaking the promise to love our children. “Jesus taught us to become like little children; in protecting our children, and protecting the family, may we keep the great promise which God has given to us in them, an through them, to our human family,” Francis said.

So what was Francis apologizing for? Take your pick: The sexual-abuse scandal (as he did in Philadelphia)? The leak of a letter criticizing the synod process signed by who-knows-how-many cardinals, which Cardinal Müller* recently compared to the Vatileaks scandal (more on that in a moment)? The Polish priest who announced he was in a relationship with another man—and that there are many more like him—on the eve of the synod? The Polish priest who had been spokesman for World Youth Day until it came to light that he had fathered a child? The absurdly ostentatious funeral for an alleged mafia boss? The financial scandals of the Vatican Bank? It could be any of these, or others (see John Thavis’s blog), or all. But the fact that Francis offered so general a mea culpa could indicate his frustration with the drip-drip of stories that make it look like little has changed since Benedict’s Vatican fell under the shadow of scandal.

Second, the letter: Last night, Sandro Magister finally filed an update, in which he declares that while he may have gotten about one-third of the signatories wrong, his story was basically right all along, no matter how many cardinals have denied signing his version of the letter. He asks the obvious question: If his version was so erroneous, then why did Pope Francis respond to every point it made during his surprise synod intervention last Tuesday morning? Magister also recaps recent developments: Cardinal Pell acknowledged signing a letter—but not exactly the one Magister published—as did Cardinal Napier, and now so has Cardinal Dolan (during a radio interview whose audio was released last night). But then Magister provided some explanation of why he published the letter in the first place—and it’s not just because it was news.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Spectator

Damian Thompson

The Catholic Church is this week in the biggest mess it’s been in since the Second Vatican Council, and Pope Francis is to blame.

The Vatican cardinals in charge of doctrine, finance and worship are believed to have written to Francis at the beginning of the Synod on the Family – now in its second chaotic week – privately warning him that it was likely to spin out of control. That’s because most of the world’s bishops don’t support any major change to the church’s rules on allowing divorced and remarried people to receive communion, or to the way it treats gay couples. You may think they’re wrong, but that is the situation. Also, the cardinals were exasperated by changes to the synod’s procedures that seemed designed to give undue prominence to liberal voices.

A version of the letter was leaked yesterday. There’s confusion over its wording and the names of the 13 cardinals who reportedly signed it, but we know roughly what it said and we can be pretty confident that it had the support of Cardinal Müller, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; Cardinal Pell, Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy; Cardinal Sarah, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship; Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York; and Cardinal Napier, Archbishop of Durban. So there we have three out of the four most powerful cardinals in the Curia, plus the most important American cardinal. Sarah (who is from Guinea) and Napier are the two most influential African cardinals.

When the letter appeared, liberal Catholic journalists made desperate attempts to play down the story – making them look like idiots when, this morning, Cardinal Müller described it as ‘the new Vatileaks‘, referring to the revelations of Vatican skulduggery that probably triggered the resignation of Benedict XVI.

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VIRGINIA/TEXAS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, October 12, 2015

Statement by Becky Ianni of Burke, Virginia Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (703-801-6044, SNAPVirginia@cox.net)

A former Richmond mega church pastor was sentenced to 40 years for molesting two girls in Texas.

He faced 7 felony charges for sex crimes against two young sisters.

[WTVR]

Celebration Church and Outreach Ministry, formerly Richmond Outreach Center, officials should aggressively seek out others who may have seen, suspected or suffered Geronimo Aguilar crimes.

We are thankful that the judge gave this dangerous predator a tough sentence. Children in Virginia are safer with Aguilar in jail.

We applaud the courage of these two victims and their family. We hope that this conviction and sentencing will bring them closure and healing. We also hope this ruling encourages others to come forward and report to police.

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MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Oct. 9

Dear Bishop Johnson:

We are urging you to take tangible and immediate steps to safeguard the children of your diocese. Children are the most precious resource of the Church and the Church must not spend her parishioners’ donations on empty gestures that do not protect children.

Roughly 30 US Bishops have posted on their diocesan websites the names of local predator priests. Bishop Robert Finn refused to do this, repeatedly ignoring this simple request. It was the very least he could have done. And now you have the opportunity to take this simple move that would help begin the process of healing and help increase the chance of prevention.

To further aid the healing of your diocese, and the protection of children, we request you contact your colleagues in Wyoming and make sure they publicize the credible allegations against Bishop Joseph Hart who assaulted young boys in Kansas City. We further request the same warning and information to parishioners in Nevada about Fr. Thomas Cronin. He molested a young girl here (Finn settled this case). As you know, there is no known cure for a pedophile, so church officials are, even now, knowingly endangering children in Wyoming and Nevada (as well as several states).

Bishop we respectfully request that you make a clean break with the deeply documented and troubling track record on children’s safety in this diocese. We beseech you to act like a caring shepherd of your precious flock, and not as the cold and calculating bishop that your predecessor proved to be. Act as you know a Christian should act, especially a Roman Catholic Christian.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Oct. 14

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, SNAP outreach director (314-503-0003 cell, bdorris@SNAPnetwork.org)

Thousands of kids in the US are getting married, often to adults and with court approval, according to alarming statistics in today’s New York Times. This must stop.

[New York Times]

Lawmakers should quickly forbid such unions. And judges should immediately stop approving such unions.

A moratorium on this controversial and unhealthy practice is the most prudent first step in ensuring the rights and safety of children.

How can we claim that a girl too young to drive a car or a boy too young to vote can make a lifelong, binding legal pledge? That’s absurd and abusive.

We must be sensitive to beliefs that are different from our own. But we must not let adults endanger or victimize children because of their beliefs, whether religious or cultural. We have a duty to boys and girls to clearly distinguish between belief and behavior. The former we tolerate. The latter we sometimes tolerate. But not when it brings hurts individuals who are too young to make choices of this magnitude.

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VATICAN CITY
HNGN

By Peter de Jesus | Oct 14, 2015

Rev. Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, has denounced the leak of private correspondence between a number of conservative cardinals and Pope Francis on Tuesday. The cardinals allegedly complained about the Holy Father’s synod, as well as his handling of issues relating to the modern family, and addressed them in a letter that was sent to the pope, according to Yahoo! News.

The leak was brought to the attention of an Italian journalist, who published the letter on Monday and named the 13 cardinals who were behind it. However, a number of the cardinals whose names were tied to the leaked letter said that they never signed it, reports NPR News.

Cardinal George Pell, the Vatican’s finance manager, confirmed that he was behind the initiative. He said that he, along with a number of conservatives, wanted to address a number of issues in front of the pope through the letter.

The Vatican, however, has stated that even if there are dissenting voices regarding the Holy Father’s decisions regarding issues related to the synod and the modern Catholic family in general, the cardinals behind the letter are duty-bound to follow the pope’s decrees.

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UNITED STATES
Wall Street Journal

By NATHALIE TADENA
Oct. 13, 2015

When Bette Midler tweeted about Pope Francis’ historic visit to the U.S. last month and his respect for the environment, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops tweeted back: “Not only does he respect the environment, he LOVES Beaches” referring to one of the actress’s well-known movies.

The tweet was part of an expansive social media push from the USCCB, which represents the Catholic Church’s bishops in the U.S., to promote the pope’s message of goodwill to a broad audience, including to digital savvy young people.

Pope Francis’ U.S. visit shed light on the state of the Catholic Church in the U.S., which suffered a 3.1% drop in its ranks to 20.8% of the U.S. population between 2007 and 2014, according to the Pew Research Center. The number of Americans who don’t identify with any religion has also been on the rise — according to a Pew report released earlier this year, 35% of adults in the U.S. born between 1981 and 1996 identify as religiously unaffiliated, up 10 percentage points from 2007. Only 16% of millennials in the Pew study identified as Catholics.

USCCB hired Golin, a public relations agency owned by Interpublic, to manage its presence across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram during the six-day papal visit, marking the first time the conference had worked with an agency on an online engagement strategy.

“This is certainly a new area for the church and a place we felt we needed to be to reach those we weren’t able to reach before,” said James Rogers, USCCB’s chief communications officer.

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UNITED STATES
National Survivor Advocates Coalition

EDITORIAL

Thanks to the Wall Street Journal, it should now be apparent to every Catholic in the United States that the Roman Catholic Church is fully capable of initiating and funding a massive public relations campaign with top drawer talent when it wishes.

Here is the link to the Journal’s new story that will fill you in on how the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) used a campaign of social media to promote Pope Francis and his recent trip to the United States.

[Wall Street Journal]

Take a listen to the USCCB communication’s officer:

“This is certainly a new area for the church and a place we felt we needed to be to reach those we weren’t able to reach before,” said James Rogers, USCCB’s chief communications officer.

And it’s impressive whom and what the USCCB used to make its connections, as the Wall Street Journal reports:

The campaign included outreach to 120 influencers, such as Ms. (Bette) Midler, and 1,300 others on social media in both English and Spanish, as well as the creation of real-time videos, GIFs and other content. With the papal visit, USCCB wanted to shift from a “model of broadcast communication” to a more engaging dialogue in real time, Mr. Rogers said.

We agree. We believe that the Church needs to reach those that it hasn’t been able to reach before – and in large number that’s the sexual abuse survivors and their families.

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ITALIA
Huffington Post

[“Sex and drugs with a priest” of the Roman parish of St. Teresa of Avila.]

Rapporti omosessuali con “adulti vulnerabili”. Il trasferimento di altri sacerdoti per provare a mettere a tacere lo scandalo per l’ordine dei Carmelitani Scalzi. L’appello a papa Francesco sul sagrato della chiesa da parte di un folto gruppo di parrocchiani che invoca trasparenza e verità. Lo scontro con altri fedeli, preoccupati per il disonore, sulle scale della parrocchia. A Santa Teresa D’Avila, chiesa di Roma, non sono giornate come le altre.

Dopo la messa domenicale delle 10.30, si presenta un senzatetto con nuove rivelazioni. “Vi racconto le mie notte con il prete a Villa Borghese” denuncia l’uomo. Secondo il racconto, riportato sul Corriere della Sera, il parroco assumeva sostanze stupefacenti per allentare i freni inibitori. “L’ho conosciuto nel 2004 a Villa Borghese, dormivo su una panchina mi offrì una sigaretta”. Comincia così il racconto di Sebastiano F. “Non sapevo fosse un prete, l’ho riconosciuto durante un messa. Ho chiesto a padre Alessandro chi fosse, eravamo stati insieme sotto un sottopasso poche ore prima, ma io non sapevo fosse un prete”. L’uomo racconta di avere pedinato il prete insieme a don Alessandro e di averlo visto andare di notte a Villa Borghese. “Usava il popper”, uno stupefacente legale in Francia che si assume per inalazione e provoca euforia e vasodilatazione.

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VATICAN CITY
euronews

By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Francis asked for forgiveness on Wednesday for scandals at the Vatican and in Rome, an apparent reference to two cases of priests and gay sex revealed this month during a major meeting of bishops.

“Today … in the name of the Church, I ask you for forgiveness for the scandals that have occurred recently either in Rome or in the Vatican,” Francis said in unprepared remarks during his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square.

“I ask you for forgiveness,” he said before tens of thousands of people, who broke into applause.

The pope then read his prepared address and did not elaborate, but there have been two scandals involving the Vatican and the Church in Rome in the past two weeks.

On Oct. 3, a Polish monsignor working in the Vatican’s doctrinal office since 2003 held a packed news conference in which he disclosed that he was gay and had been living with another man for years.

The Vatican dismissed Monsignor Krzysztof Charamsa, a theologian, from his job there as well as from teaching assignments in pontifical universities in Rome.

A spokesman said at the time that Charamsa’s high-profile coming out on the eve of a meeting of world bishops at the Vatican was “grave and irresponsible”. It accused him of trying to exert “undue media pressure” on the bishops’ debate on family issues, including the Church’s position on gays.

After he was fired, Charamsa gave interviews to Spanish and Italian media in which he criticised the Church’s rule on celibacy for the clergy.

The pope also appeared to be referring to a scandal exposed in the Italian media last week about an order of priests who run a parish in a well-to-do neighbourhood in Rome.

Parishioners in the Santa Teresa d’Avila parish wrote to local Church officials alleging that a clergyman there had had encounters with “vulnerable adults”. Newspapers said these took place in an adjacent park often frequented by male prostitutes.

According to the letter published in the media, parishioners said they had assembled evidence about the clergyman’s illicit activities and were furious to discover he had been transferred to another part of Italy instead of being disciplined.

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VATICAN CITY
Straits Times

VATICAN CITY (AFP) – Pope Francis apologised Wednesday (Oct 14) on behalf of the Catholic Church for a series of scandals which have recently shaken the city of Rome and the Vatican.

The Vatican has been the focus of several controversies including the coming out of a gay priest and the leak of a controversial letter, while the pontiff himself ended up in the headlines for a gaffe which helped oust Rome’s mayor.

“I want, in the name of the Church, to ask forgiveness for the scandals which have recently hit Rome and the Vatican. I ask you for forgiveness,” Francis said at the start of his weekly general audience on Saint Peter’s Square.

“It is inevitable that scandals happen, but ‘woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!’” he said, quoting a passage from the Bible.

The 78-year-old has been presiding over a three-week global council of cardinals and bishops, where debates over the Church’s teachings on the family have been overshadowed by tales of Machivellian plots and betrayal.

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VATICAN CITY
First Post

Vatican City: Pope Francis on Wednesday offered a rare public apology from the Catholic Church for a series of scandals which have recently shaken the city of Rome and the Vatican.

Pope Francis delivers a speech during the Second World Meeting of the Popular Movements on Thursday.Pope Francis.

The Vatican has been the focus of several controversies including the coming out of a gay priest and the leak of a controversial letter, while the pontiff himself ended up in the headlines for a gaffe which helped oust Rome’s mayor.

“I want, in the name of the Church, to ask forgiveness for the scandals which have recently hit Rome and the Vatican.

I ask you for forgiveness,” Francis said at the start of his weekly general audience on Saint Peter’s Square.

“It is inevitable that scandals happen, but ‘woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!'” he said, quoting a passage from the Bible.

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VATICAN CITY
Voice of America

VOA News
October 14, 2015 7:29 AM

Pope Francis has offered a rare, if vague, apology for scandals involving the Roman Catholic Church, after several high-profile gaffes that were linked to the church or its clergy.

Speaking in Rome at the beginning of his weekly general audience Wednesday, Pope Francis said he asks forgiveness in the name of the church “for the scandals that have recently hit Rome and the Vatican.” He did not offer details on what scandals he meant. He added, “It is inevitable that scandal happens, but woe to the man who causes [them].” His last phrase was a quote from the Bible.

The pope’s comments drew applause, but also confusion about which scandals he might have meant. The Vatican has not addressed questions about what the pope was referencing.

On October third, the day before Pope Francis opened a meeting on family issues, a Vatican monsignor publicly announced he is gay, introduced his male partner to the media, and denounced the Church’s stance on same-sex relationships.

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VATICAN CITY
CBS News

AP

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis asked forgiveness Wednesday for recent scandals that have hit Rome and the Vatican, showing again he doesn’t much care about making waves if it’s for the sake of reassuring his flock.

Francis didn’t cite examples in his off-the-cuff request for pardon at the start of his general audience. It was met with subdued applause afterward. However, the past week has seen its fair share of headline-making news that has involved the church in one way or another.

On the eve of Francis’ big and contentious meeting on family issues, a Vatican monsignor came out as gay and, with his boyfriend by his side, denounced homophobia in the Catholic Church. He was summarily fired from his job in the Vatican’s doctrine office.

A few days later, Rome’s mayor resigned amid scandal of his own doing. But Mayor Ignazio Marino’s downfall followed widespread criticism within the church that the city was ill-prepared to handle the millions of pilgrims expected for Francis’ Jubilee Year of Mercy, which starts in December.

And finally, Francis’ synod has been rocked by revelations that a dozen conservative cardinals wrote to the pope with serious concerns about the way the meeting was being run.

“Before I begin the catechesis I would like in the name of the church to ask your forgiveness for the scandals which have recently fallen on Rome and the Vatican,” Francis said to thousands of people gathered under damp but warm skies in St. Peter’s Square. “I ask your forgiveness.”

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VATICAN CITY
America Magazine

Gerard O’Connell | Oct 14 2015

Cardinal Timothy Dolan has provided some important background information on the letter that he and 12 other cardinals sent to Pope Francis on Oct. 5, the opening day of the synod. He revealed that the idea of the letter came from Cardinal George Pell, in a conversation with other bishops as they shared “some worries” about the synod before it started. During that conversation, he said Pell summarized the concerns of the group in three points: the synod’s working document (“Instrumentum Laboris”), the process and the composition of the 10-person special commission set up by the pope to draft the synod’s final document. Dolan said the letter with these concerns was subsequently written in Italian, and he signed it.

The New York cardinal revealed all this information in a radio interview with Mary Shovlain, host of ‘The Vatican Report,’ on the Catholic Channel of Sirius XM News and Issues, Oct 13. (Link below)

He told her that when he arrived in Rome for the synod, “there were a number of bishops, one of whom was Cardinal George Pell, whom I respect very much, and we were chatting about a couple of concerns that we had.” And, he added, “George said…why don’t we get together – we love the Holy Father, we trust him, he’s urged us to be honest with him as possible – why don’t we write [to] him that we’re worried. We’re worried, first of all about the “Instrumentum Laboris” [Note: the synod’s working document] which has a lot of good things, but we’re kind of worried if that’s the only document that we’re going to be talking about at the synod. Secondly, we’re a little worried about the process: there seems to be some confusion. And, thirdly, we’re a little worried if we could have a say in the people who are going to be on the final drafting committee.”

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

14 October, 2015

The Royal Commission’s public hearing into Geelong Grammar School will recommence in Sydney on Thursday 22 October and Friday 23 October 2015.

The scope and purpose of the public hearing is to inquire into:

1. The experience of former students of Geelong Grammar School, Victoria.

2. The responses of the School Council, Principals and other members of staff of Geelong Grammar School to:
a. concerns raised about inappropriate conduct, or
b. complaints about child sexual abuse
where the concerns raised or complaints made related to the behaviour of teaching and non-teaching staff of Geelong Grammar School towards students.

3. The past and current practices, policies and procedures in place at Geelong Grammar School in relation to raising and responding to concerns and complaints about child sexual abuse.

4. Any related matters.

Date: Thursday 22 October and Friday 23 October 2015
Hearing times: 10:00am – 4:00pm AEDT
Location: Hearing room 1, Level 17, Governor Macquarie Tower, 1 Farrer Place, Sydney
(Video link will be established with parties at the County Court of Victoria in Melbourne)

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NEW JERSEY
The Record

BY JEFF GREEN
STAFF WRITER | THE RECORD

In sweeping language, Newark Archbishop John J. Myers has instructed Catholics not to seek Communion or other sacraments if they “publicly reject” church teachings, and he advises the faithful to avoid events supporting people or organizations who don’t follow church doctrine.

In this Sept. 28, 2015 file photo, Archbishop John J. Meyers of Newark answers questions from the press after holding a press conference on the Syrian refugee crisis.

The archbishop distributed the statement of principles in a letter to priests last Friday at a time when bishops handpicked by Pope Francis are meeting in Rome to discuss allowing divorced and remarried couples to receive Communion. And it comes weeks after Francis’ U.S. tour in which he reinforced a spirit of embracing all Catholics, even who don’t or haven’t always adhered to church teachings.

The letter appears to be the most far-reaching effort yet by Myers, a conservative prelate known for pressuring Catholic politicians and voters, in asserting the church’s social doctrine.

While a Newark archdiocese spokesman said the letter marked no “significant change,” at least one Catholic expert said that if it is followed literally, it could be applied broadly to the political and public lives of any Catholic, even those who don’t quarrel with hot-button social issues such as gay marriage, abortion and contraceptive use.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Candice Marcus

The Salvation Army instructed a law firm to try to resolve claims made by sexual and physical abuse victims without going to court, a royal commission has heard.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is examining four Salvation Army-run children’s homes in South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia.

Philip Brewin from law firm Nevett Ford gave evidence about his firm’s advice to the Salvation Army on dealing with alleged abuse.

He said his firm was instructed by the Salvation Army to “attempt to resolve matters amicably, without the need for the claimant to issue proceedings”.

The commission, sitting in Adelaide, was told that claims of physical abuse would generally be settled for between $5,000 and $35,000, while claims of sexual abuse would be settled for up to $50,000.

It heard the average redress payments made by the Salvation Army were $40,000.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Burton Mail

A BURTON man abused for more than 10 years by a Catholic priest has hit out at the church for ‘failing him’ as a child.

Eamonn Flanagan, now 52 and living in Australia, was abused from the age of 11 by Father Samuel Penney while he was an altar server at Saint Mary and St Modwen Church, in Guild Street, Burton, during the 1970s.

Now 22 years after Penney was jailed for a string of sexual offences against children, Mr Flanagan has been given a payout by the Diocese of Birmingham. Speaking from his home, Mr Flanagan, who waived his right to anonymity, said he felt the church had failed to ‘take responsibility’.

Representatives from the church said this week it now worked ‘very hard’ to deal with abuse allegations.

Mr Flanagan said: “Despite the jailing of Penney, the Catholic church has failed to support victims and survivors of abuse in my view. They certainly took no action to stop him. I should have gone to the police immediately. The church failed me, my family, my friends and all the people of the Burton parish. They failed me during the abuse and for many, many years after the abuse had ended.”

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IRELAND
Galway Independent

Catherine Corless, the historian who uncovered the Tuam Babies story, has welcomed a geophysical survey of the site.

The survey by the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation, which was supervised by a Consultant Archaeologist, took place on the site of the graveyard at the Dublin Road, Tuam on Friday and was conducted with the consent of the site owners, Galway County Council.

“I welcome this preliminary survey on behalf of the former residents of the Tuam Home who have family buried there,” said Ms Corless. “It is their wish to know exactly where their siblings are buried. It is their hope that a further survey will be carried out on the open space around the closed off area, as it is known now, through access to the Galway County Council Plan of the Housing Estate on this site. The Children’s Graveyard extends well outside this walled off area as indicated on this plan.”

The Commission confirmed to the Galway Independent that the survey conducted involved the use of non-invasive methods. It was conducted over the surface of the ground, inside the current boundaries of the graveyard. The sub surface of the site was not disturbed.

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CANADA
VOCM

It was the end of an era in Whitbourne. The old boys home has been demolished.

The facility opened in 1953 and was closed in 1992, replaced by a Newfoundland and Labrador Youth Centre, a correctional facility in Whitbourne for young offenders.

The boys home wasn’t without its controversy. Former residents alleged physical and sexual abuse at the hands of a Catholic priest in the ’70s. While victims were able to settle with the church, the province was found not liable in 2011.

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MINNESOTA
WDAY

By Jennie Lissarrague & Tyler Berg, KSTP TV Today

A new lawsuit is being filed against a St. Cloud priest accused of sexual abuse.

Lawyer Jeff Anderson says the lawsuit names the Diocese of St. Cloud, Father Antonio Marfori and Cathedral High School as defendants.

The lawsuit is being filed on behalf of a victim who claims he was sexually abused by Marfori when he was 15 years old. He says Marfori was his religion teacher at Cathedral High School in St. Cloud at the time of the abuse.

“He suffered in silence for years, unable to share the secret,” Anderson said.

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UNITED STATES
Questions from a Ewe

Before and now during the much heralded Synod on the Family, I have heard and continue to hear a great hullabaloo about whether or not to allow communion for divorcees who remarry without first having their previous marriages annulled. I find this fixation odd because I think it represents misplaced focus, wreaking of hypocrisy.

At the risk of expressing myself in an inefficient manner, allow me to share some recent inter-personal exchanges with you.

Last week I was in Africa for a large diocesan event. Consequently I found myself in the company of many African priests. Our conversations often turned to the Synod. While in the company of four African priests I mentioned that some American media outlets reported that the African bishops were trying to block certain discussions. One of the four replied that he thought he knew which topics African bishops would try to block and then proceeded to speculate they were LGBT issues and communion for “‘separated’ and remarried Catholics…because there is no such thing as ‘divorce’ in the eyes of God.”

We had a spirited dialogue following his comment that went something like this:

Me: Why are you focusing on lay Catholics rather than the priests who break the same commandment?

Him: (deer in headlights look….)

Me: I’ve seen statistics that about 50% of Catholic priests are sexually active. There are 4 priests here now. Statistically speaking, that means 2 of you are probably sexually active. According to moral theology, you two break the same commandment as divorced and remarried people. However, not only do you get to receive communion, you get to consecrate the hosts!

Him: But such priests do this in secret!!!!

Me: Which is more reprehensible! Secrecy gave the abuse scandal, didn’t it? Besides, it’s not a secret. People tend to know.

Him: (a more frightened deer in headlights look…)

Me: Tell me truthfully, do you know multiple priests who are currently sexually active?

Him: (stunned look)

Me: So, you’d be lying if you told me “no” wouldn’t you? And, thus, it’s not a secret is it?

Him: (chuckling in a very sheepish rather than shepherd-ish way) Welllllllll……

Me: Well nothing. They’re sexually active… they break the same commandment as divorcees. Commandment number 6 covers all sex-related sins. Same commandment. Same sin. But nobody is talking about refusing communion to all these sexually active priests.

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TEXAS
WRIC

FORT WORTH, Texas (WRIC) — Geronimo ‘Pastor G’ Aguilar was sentenced to 40 years in prison in a Fort Worth, Texas courtroom Tuesday.

The former Richmond megachurch pastor, who founded the Richmond Outreach Center, was found guilty in June of 2015 of sexually assaulting two young girls while he was a pastor in Texas in the 1990s.

A judge sentenced Aguilar to 40 years for the first and second counts and 20 years for counts three, four, five, six and seven. He will serve the counts concurrently and will be eligible for parole in 20 years.

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TEXAS/VIRGINIA
WTVR

BY SANDRA JONES

TARRANT COUNTY, Texas — The former pastor of the Richmond Outreach Center (ROC) Geronimo Aguilar has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for sexually abusing children, inside a Texas courtroom Tuesday.

Aguilar, known locally as Pastor G, faced life in prison for two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child. In addition to three counts of sexual assault of a child under 17 and two counts of indecency with a child.

A judge sentence Aguilar to 40 years on count one and two, and 20 years on counts three through seven. The counts will be served concurrently.

A Texas jury found Aguilar guilty of sex crimes against two sisters who he started to abuse when they were 11 and 13 years old. The girls, now women, said they were abused in the 1990s while Aguilar was a pastor at their church in Texas. Aguilar’s attorneys have repeatedly said the pastor was innocent and vow to appeal.

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TEXAS/VIRGINIA
Richmond Times-Dispatch

Posted: Tuesday, October 13, 2015
By Mitch Mitchell Fort Worth Star-Telegram

FORT WORTH – Geronimo Aguilar, the former pastor of the Richmond Outreach Center, was sentenced Tuesday to 40 years in prison for sexually assaulting teenage sisters in Texas.

Aguilar, who has been in jail since his conviction in June, faced a life prison sentence on two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child. He was also convicted of three counts of sexual assault of a child under 17 and two counts of indecency with a child, each second-degree felonies, each carrying maximum sentences of 20 years.

Before pronouncing sentence, state District Judge Louis Sturns heard a 1 1/2 days of testimony from people who have known Aguilar.

Witnesses called by Aguilar’s attorneys Tuesday said they did not recognize the man who seduced, coerced and sexually abused teenage and pre-teen girls and married women who were members of his churches. The defense witnesses said they knew a minister who clothed the naked, fed the hungry and housed the homeless.

Aguilar grew up in a troubled family, relatives said. Faye Zucker, his mother’s cousin, testified that Aguilar was 8 or 9 when his stepfather fatally shot his mother in the head five times.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Madeleine Baran Oct 13, 2015

A priest in Elk River is on leave of absence from ministry after a lawsuit was filed Tuesday accusing him of sexually abusing a teenage boy nearly four decades ago.

The Rev. Antonio Marfori of Elk River’s Church of St. Andrew said he learned of the lawsuit Monday. He said there is “no truth” to the allegation in the lawsuit. “I almost fainted yesterday when they gave me the summons,” Marfori, 63, said.

In a statement, the St. Cloud diocese said Marfori has been removed from priestly duties while the allegation is investigated, adding that “there has been no report of sexual misconduct prior to receiving the present complaint.”

In the lawsuit filed Tuesday in Stearns County, a man identified as Doe 75 said Marfori “engaged in unpermitted sexual contact” with him in about 1978 when he was about 15 years old.

The man is suing Marfori, the Diocese of St. Cloud and Cathedral High School, where Marfori had been a part-time instructor in the late 1970s. The suit alleges the high school and the diocese were negligent in allegedly failing to protect the boy from Marfori.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Associated Press OCTOBER 13, 2015

MINNEAPOLIS — A priest at an Elk River parish and school is being accused of abusing a teen in the 1970s.

A lawsuit filed Tuesday alleges the Rev. Antonio Marfori sexually abused a 15-year-old boy in 1978, when Marfori taught at St. Cloud’s Cathedral High School.

The lawsuit names Marfori, Cathedral and the St. Cloud Diocese as defendants. It alleges the diocese should’ve known Marfori was a risk.

Marfori was most recently serving in sacramental ministry at the Church of St. Andrew in Elk River.

The diocese says he’s been removed from ministry while the allegation is being investigated.

The diocese says they had no prior allegations of abuse against Marfori before receiving the current lawsuit, and it has been reported to law enforcement.

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MINNESOTA
Fox 9

By: Mike Durkin
POSTED:OCT 13 2015

ST. PAUL, Minn. (KMSP) – A lawsuit filed Tuesday accuses Rev. Antonio Marfori of sexually abusing a 15-year-old boy back in 1978, when he was teaching at Cathedral High School in St. Cloud, Minn. The lawsuit names the school and the Diocese of St. Cloud as co-defendants.

Marfori has most recently been assisting the pastor of St. Andrew Parish in Elk River, Minn. with sacramental ministry, but has been removed from the ministry while the allegation is investigated.

Charges listed in the lawsuit include:

Sexual battery against Marfori.
Nuisance against the Diocese of St. Cloud.
Negligence against the Diocese of St. Cloud and Cathedral High School.

Attorney Jeff Anderson is also asking the Diocese of St. Cloud to release its files on all credibly-accused priests. The diocese has publicly named 33 credibly-accused clerics to date.

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ROME
Washington Post

By David Gibson October 13

ROME (RNS) — Even as Pope Francis and Catholic leaders from around the world debate ways to make the Catholic Church more inclusive, Newark Archbishop John Myers has given his priests strict guidelines on refusing Communion to Catholics who, for example, support gay marriage or whose own marriage is not valid in the eyes of the church.

In the two-page memo, Myers also orders parishes and Catholic institutions not to host people or organizations that disagree with church teachings.

He says Catholics, “especially ministers and others who represent the Church, should not participate in or be present at religious events or events intended to endorse or support those who reject or ignore Church teaching and Canon Law.”

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MINNESOTA
KAAL

By: Jennie Lissarrague

A new lawsuit is being filed against a St. Cloud priest accused of sexual abuse.

Lawyer Jeff Anderson says the lawsuit names the Diocese of St. Cloud, Father Antonia Marfori and Cathedral High School as defendants.

The lawsuit is being filed on behalf of a victim who claims he was sexually abused by Marfori when he was 15 years old. He says Marfori was his religion teacher at Cathedral High School in St. Cloud at the time of the abuse.

At the time of the lawsuit, Marfori worked as a sacramental minister at St. Andrew’s Parish in Elk River. After learning about the allegation, the Diocese of St. Cloud said that Marfori’s priestly faculties have been removed while the investigation is underway, meaning he can’t function or present himself as a priest.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

TESS LIVINGSTONE OCTOBER 14, 2015

Civil war has erupted at the top of the Catholic Church, with 13 ­cardinals, including Australia’s George Pell, warning the Pope in a letter that the church is in ­danger of collapsing like liberal Protestant churches in the modern era.

The cardinals say the threat of collapse has been accelerated by the “abandonment of key elements of Christian belief and practice in the name of pastoral adaptation’’.

As well as Cardinal Pell, the Vatican’s Secretary for the Economy, cardinals from Bologna, ­Toronto, New York, Galveston, Nairobi, Mexico, Utrecht, Durban and Caracas signed the letter, as well as other senior Vatican ­officials. These included Guinean Cardinal Robert Sarah, the church’s Prefect for Divine Worship, and German Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, the Prefect for Doctrine.

The row centres on the three-week Synod on the Family under way in Rome and being attended by about 300 delegates, mainly bishops, from around the world.

While the Pope encourages free debate, the cardinals’ move is courageous. Some analysts believe they have put their careers on the line in defence of church teaching on the indissolubility of marriage and the eucharist.

At the synod, one participant said “a little bit of smog or fog has entered the aura (auditorium)’’, a reference to Paul VI’s statement 50 years ago that “the smoke of Satan’’ had entered the church.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Chichester Observer

THE DIOCESE of Chichester could potentially be sued for thousands of pounds by sex assault victims, it has emerged.

Following the jailing of former diocese priest Peter Ball last week, solicitor David Greenwood, representing some of his victims, said papers have been lodged with the diocese.

“On behalf of the victims, I think they will be relieved that the whole process of bringing him to justice in a criminal court is over,” he said.

However, he said some victims were unhappy about being unable to give evidence in court about what happened to them.

“Certainly, a couple of the chaps that I spoke to were unhappy that they weren’t given the opportunity of telling their story in court and I think they want to continue to seek justice through the civil justice system.”

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ROME
Chiesa

Text and names of signers confirmed, apart from marginal inaccuracies. Absolutely certain, above all, is what is at stake: control of the procedures, decisive for the outcome of the synod

by Sandro Magister

ROME, October 14, 2015 – Two days ago, the article posted on www.chiesa in the early morning burst like a bomb inside and outside the enclosure of the synod on the family:

Thirteen Cardinals Have Written to the Pope. Here’s the Letter

Over the next few hours, four of the thirteen cardinals indicated in the article as signatories of the letter denied that they had endorsed it. In order: cardinals Angelo Scola, André Vingt-Trois, Mauro Piacenza, and Péter Erdõ.

But in the afternoon two high-ranking cardinals, both present on the list from www.chiesa, said that they had in fact signed a letter to Pope Francis.

The first was Australian cardinal George Pell, prefect in the Vatican of the secretariat for the economy, indicated as the one who had personally delivered the letter to the pope. And he did so with a statement to the “National Catholic Register”:

A spokesperson for Cardinal Pell…

In the statement, Pell says that “it seems that there are errors in both the content and the list of signatories.”

But he doubles back to insist on two of the “concerns” brought to the pope’s attention in the letter published by www.chiesa.

The first with regard to those at the synod – a “minority” – who “want to change the Church’s teachings on the proper dispositions necessary for the reception of

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MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Diocese of St. Cloud

NEWS RELEASE
Diocese of St. Cloud

MEDIA CONTACT
Joe Towalski
Director of Communications
(O) 320-258-7624
jtowalski@gw.stcdio.org
October 13, 2015

STATEMENT REGARDING RECENT COMPLAINT

The Diocese of St. Cloud has been named as a defendant in a civil lawsuit alleging that Father Antonio Marfori sexually abused a minor in the late 1970s while he was a part-time instructor at Cathedral High School in St. Cloud.

The diocese is reviewing the complaint.

After learning of the allegation, Bishop Donald Kettler removed Father Marfori’s priestly faculties, meaning he cannot function or present himself as a priest, while the allegation is investigated.

Father Marfori had been assisting the pastor of St. Andrew Parish in Elk River with sacramental ministry. This was not an assignment from the bishop but an agreement between Father Marfori and the parish to provide sacramental assistance in the parish.

There has been no report of sexual misconduct prior to receiving the present complaint. The allegation has been reported to law enforcement, and the bishop notified the Diocesan Review Board. Father Marfori has been removed from a parish house owned by St. Andrew Parish in Elk River and will live at a residence owned by the diocese in St. Cloud during the investigation.

In light of the allegation and in line with past practice, Bishop Kettler will hold listening sessions in the near future in areas where Father Marfori served. When the schedule and specific locations for the sessions are determined, they will be announced in parish bulletins and from the pulpit; they also will be published on the diocese’s website (www.stclouddiocese.org) and in the diocesan newspaper, The Visitor.

Father Marfori was ordained Oct. 7, 1978 at St. Mary’s Cathedral in St. Cloud. He has served the following assignments: part-time associate, St. Francis Xavier, Sartell, and part-time instructor (later instructor and assistant chaplain), Cathedral High School, St. Cloud, 1978-1980; associate pastor, St. Paul, Sauk Centre, 1980-1984; post-graduate studies, 1984-1985; pastor, St. Agnes, Roscoe, 1985-1993; pastor, St. Margaret, Lake Henry (while continuing at St. Agnes), 1987-1993; pastor, St. Pius X, Zimmerman, 1993-2007; pastor, St. Anne, Kimball, 2007-2008; canonical administrator, St. Elizabeth, Brennyville, SS. Peter and Paul, Gilman, and St. Joseph, Morrill, 2008-2010; Leave of absence (medical), 2010.

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MINNESOTA
St. Cloud Times

[Doe 75 Summons and Complaint – Jeff Anderson & Associates]

[video: Jeff Anderson & Associates press conference regarding the lawsuit.]

[statement from the St. Cloud diocese]

David Unze, dunze@stcloudtimes.com October 13, 2015

ST. PAUL — Bishop Donald Kettler has removed the priestly faculties of an Elk River priest who was accused Tuesday in a civil lawsuit of sexually abusing a former Cathedral High School student nearly 40 years ago.

The Rev. Anthony (Tony) Marfori is one of three defendants in the lawsuit, which was filed by a student who accuses Marfori of abusing him in the late 1970s when the student was 15 and attending Cathedral. The Diocese of St. Cloud and Cathedral High School are the other defendants.

The diocese said the lawsuit is the first time it has heard of sexual abuse allegations against Marfori, who is a “sacramental minister” at St. Andrew Parish in Elk River. The allegations have been reported to law enforcement, according to a statement from the diocese.

The removal of priestly faculties means that Marfori can’t function or present himself as a priest while the allegation is investigated. Marfori had been assisting the pastor of St. Andrew in an agreement between Marfori and the Elk River parish, the statement said.

Kettler didn’t assign Marfori to the Elk River parish, according to the statement. Kettler has also notified the Diocesan Review Board about the allegation.

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POLSKA
SE.pl

Bomba wybuchła wiosną. Znany w Krakowie ks. Tomasz Kijowski (45 l.) najpierw zrezygnował ze stanowiska rzecznika prasowego Światowych Dni Młodzieży, a następnie odszedł ze Zgromadzenia Salezjańskiego, którego też był rzecznikiem. Swoją prośbę motywował względami osobistymi.

Szybko okazało się, o co konkretnie chodzi: ks. Kijowski spłodził dziecko 22-letniej kobiecie, którą poznał na spotkaniach dla młodzieży. Postanowił z nią zamieszkać. – W maju poprosił o zwolnienie z wykonywania funkcji kapłańskich – powiedział portalowi Onet.pl nowy rzecznik salezjanów z Krakowa ks. Andrzej Gołębiowski. W lipcu księdzu i jego wybrance urodziła się córeczka. Ks. Kijowski został zawieszony w czynnościach kapłańskich. – Obecnie ma on zakaz sprawowania sakramentów, przepowiadania Słowa Bożego oraz noszenia stroju duchownego – informuje ks. Gołębiowski. 

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VATICAN CITY
Washington Post

By Rosie Scammell | Religion News Service October 13

VATICAN CITY — A Polish priest has been stripped of his duties after reportedly fathering a child with a woman he met while working as spokesman for the upcoming World Youth Day in Krakow.

Tomasz Kijowski, a member of the Salesian order, has been banned from performing his duties and wearing his clerical robes or collar.

A Vatican representative was not immediately available to comment on whether the Polish priest would also be defrocked.

The priest reportedly admitted his relationship with a woman in June, but the case has only just come to light in Polish media.

Andrzej Golebiowski, spokesman for the Krakow Salesians, said the process of formally expelling Kijowski from the order is underway. “The reason for this situation is that he has fathered a child,” he was quoted in Inside Poland as saying.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A retired Church of England priest from West Sussex was first reported to police over sex abuse in 2001, but no action was taken, a jury has been told.

Vickery House, 69, of Brighton Road, Handcross, denies eight charges of indecent assault.

The Old Bailey was told Mr House’s alleged first victim contacted Devon Police in 2001.

When the married vicar was arrested in 2012 he told police he was “flabbergasted” by the allegations.

Jake Hallam, prosecuting, told the jury the case was about “the sexual desires of this defendant for much younger males”.

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NEW MEXICO
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Oct. 13

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

Two more New Mexico priests are accused of molesting kids. Will Catholic officials ever “come clean” and disclose these dangerous men? Or must they be sued over and over again while they live among unsuspecting families?

[Albuquerque Journal]

One of the just-sued priests is being publicly revealed as a predator for the first time ever. He is Fr. Armando Martinez. There are now 42 publicly accused Albuquerque archdiocese predator priests. (See BishopAccountability.org)

We urge every single victim of every single New Mexico predator priest to protect kids by exposing wrongdoers through civil and criminal action.

We urge every single witness or whistleblower to call police, prosecutors and other independent sources.

We urge every current or former church employee or member to share any information, rumor or suspicions they may have about potentially predatory priests to law enforcement.

And we urge New Mexico Archbishop John Wester to heed the recent words of Pope Francis, who promised that “abuse cannot be kept secret any longer,” “all responsible will be held accountable,” and that church officials will provide “careful oversight to ensure that youth are protected.”

For the safety of the vulnerable and the healing of the wounded, Wester should permanently post, on church websites, the names, photos and work histories of every proven, admitted and credibly accused child molesting cleric who has lived or worked in his archdiocese.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Oct. 13

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

The top papal spokesman is “denouncing” Vatican leaks (according to the Associated Press).

[Newsday]

Why is it that Catholic officials so often denounce clerics who embarrass them but so rarely denounce clerics who commit child sex crimes and virtually never denounce clerics who conceal child sex crimes?

Two weeks have passed since Pope Francis left the US making strong promises, including that “abuse cannot be kept secret any longer,” “all responsible will be held accountable,” and that church officials will provide “careful oversight to ensure that youth are protected.”

Can anyone point to a single sign that a single bishop – – heard and now heeds the Pope’s pledges?

We can’t.

And did Francis – or any church official, from Cardinal to custodian – denounce by name a single church official for endangering kids or protecting predators, when Global Post disclosed five priests who abused in developed nations but now live and work in developing nations?

[BishopAccountability.org]

Nope.

The investigation has been public for a month now. No one in the Vatican is denouncing anyone or anything about it. They’re just ignoring it (like they did a similar investigation three years ago by the Chicago Tribune).

[BishopAccountability.org]

When will Catholic officials show the kind of outrage over sexual violence and cover up as they do other offenses?

(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world

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VATICAN CITY
Newsday

By NICOLE WINFIELD (Associated Press)

VATICAN CITY – (AP) — The Vatican spokesman on Tuesday denounced the leak of a private letter to Pope Francis by conservative cardinals complaining about the way his big family meeting is being run. But he reminded those responsible that the meeting procedures are set and that they’re duty-bound to stick with them.

Spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi sought to end discussion about the latest controversy to roil Francis’ synod on the family after an Italian journalist published the letter Monday and named 13 cardinals who purportedly signed it.

Four of those said they never signed it. But the Vatican’s finance manager, Cardinal George Pell, effectively confirmed he was behind the initiative by fellow conservatives to bring complaints straight to the pope about a perceived lack of openness in the synod process that they felt would create “predetermined results.”

The letter, written in English, said the working document for the meeting was problematic and so was the drafting committee for the final document, since its members were appointed by the pope, not elected by the synod’s 270 members.

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ITALIA
IVG

[Alarmed by Don Pinetto, who is subject of a judicial investigation, parents are turning away their children fromthe parish.]

Savona. Le mamme non fanno dietrofront e alcune hanno giá preso una amara decisione: “toglieremo i nostri figli dalla parrocchia”. Lo hanno deciso dopo aver partecipato ieri sera alla riunione col parroco. I genitori allarmati hanno chiesto di allontanare don Pietro Pinetto, già oggetto di un’inchiesta della magistratura.

I genitori allarmati hanno chiesto aiuto anche a Francesco Zanardi, portavoce della Rete L’abuso che nel 2013 aveva denunciato le molestie subite da alcuni seminaristi, i quali avevano confermato davanti al sostituto procuratore di Savona Giovanni Battista Ferro le loro accuse.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Kansas City Business Journal

The Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph has settled two more sexual abuse claims against former priest Shawn Ratigan.

Ratigan, who was sentenced to 50 years in prison in 2013 for child pornography charges, has now cost the diocese nearly $4 million, The Kansas City Star reports.

Last week, the diocese finalized an out-of-court settlement worth $200,000 with a family who’s two minor daughters were photographed by Ratigan.

The Star reports that previous lawsuits in 2013 and 2014 were settle for $1.35 million, $600,000, $1.275 million and $525,000. Another ongoing 2011 case is being appealed by plaintiffs.

In addition, a $10 million settlement reached in 2008 with 47 plaintiffs on other priest abuse charges had a stipulation that the diocese be forthcoming about other criminal behavior. In 2014, that settlement triggered a $1.1 million breach-of-contract award after Ratigan’s abuse conviction.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Gazette

POETRY, art and music were just some of the topics a perverted priest used to impress a schoolboy.

Vickery House used his knowledge of poetry, art and music to lure a 14-year-old boy in 1970.

The Church of England priest, now 69, allegedly groped the teenager after offering him a role as server in the Devon parish of Crediton.

The married curate from Seattle in the US had previously impressed the boy with his knowledge of poetry, art and music, jurors were told.

His alleged victim eventually went to police in 2001 but ‘for reasons that remain unclear’ nothing was done, the Old Bailey heard.

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NEW YORK
New York Post

By Melissa Klein and David K. Li

October 13, 2015

The estranged hubby of the pastry-porn seductress who’s embroiled in a Greek Orthodox Church scandal poured his heart out to The Post, describing in an impassioned statement how the kinky priest relentlessly pursued his wife, who eventually fell victim to the holy man’s overtures.

The priest, George Passias, and parish school principal Ethel Bouzalas carried on a tawdry affair fueled by their shared interest in the fetish of “cake crushing” or “cake sitting.”

In a long statement to The Post, Tom Bouzalas outlined the relationship between his wife and Passias, took shots at the holy man–and insisted he still loves his wife.

* On blowing the whistle on them: “Yes, I did email Bishop Andonios of Phasiane and informed him of an affair between Father George Passias and my wife. In that same email I Informed the Bishop that I wanted Father George removed from the priesthood. It is also true that I received videos and pictures via email. There were other forces at work all taking place at the same time.”

* Said the priest is into weirder fetishes than than cake-crushing and feet: “I have sat by and watched everything printed and said but does anyone know what type of man Father George Passias really is. Does anyone know that he has a serious paraphylia problem which more than just a cake or foot fetish.”

* Claimed the priest was always pursuing Ethel: “What priest flies from Fort Myers, Florida just to stop by and say hello? ( He did just to see my wife) What priest sits outside my house for hours waiting for my wife to get home? Father George did. What priest talks badly about his wife to me and says what a terrible wife and disciplinarian she is, where even his youngest daughter had to lock herself in the bathroom until Father George would get home? Father George Passias.”

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 13 October 2015 (VIS) – The Holy Father has appointed:

– Rev. Msgr. Justin Bernard Gnanapragasam as bishop of Jaffna (area 4,400, population 1,493,720, Catholics 240,682, priests 153, religious 324), Sri Lanka. The bishop-elect was born in Karampon, Sri Lanka in 1948 and ordained a priest in 1974. He has served in a number of roles in the diocese of Jaffna, including parish vicar, parish priest, vice rector and rector of St. Henry’s College, dean of the Ilavalai deanery, director of a group of state schools, visiting professor at the major seminary and rector of St. Patrick’s College. He is currently vicar general of Jaffna. He succeeds Bishop Thomas Savundaranayagam Emmanuel, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese upon reaching the age limit was accepted by the Holy Father.

– Rev. Fr. Arthur J. Colgan, C.S.C., as auxiliary of the diocese of Chosica (area 3,418, population 1,931,000, Catholics 1,706,000, priests 131, religious 717), Peru. The bishop-elect was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, U.S.A. in 1946, gave his religious vows in 1966 and was ordained a priest in 1973. He has served in a number of pastoral and administrative roles within his religious Institute, including superior of the Congregation of the Holy Cross in Peru, parish priest, vicar general, episcopal vicar for the archdiocese of Lima, Peru, theological assessor for the Episcopal Commission for Social Action of the Peruvian Episcopal Conference, and provincial superior for the Eastern Province of his congregation in Bridgeport, Connecticut, U.S.A. He is currently vicar general of the diocese of Chosica, Peru.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 13 October 2015 (VIS) – The director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., has given the following clarification regarding the publication yesterday of a “Letter to the Pope from thirteen cardinals”.

As we are aware, at least four of the Synod Fathers who were included in the list of signatories have denied their involvement (Cardinals Angelo Scola, Andre Vingt-Trois, Mauro Piacenza and Peter Erdo).

Cardinal Pell has declared that a letter sent to the Pope was confidential and should have remained as such, and that neither the text published nor the signatories correspond to what was sent to the Pope.

I would add that, in terms of content, the difficulties included in the letter were mentioned on Monday evening in the Synod Hall, as I have previously said, although not covered extensively or in detail.

As we know, the General Secretary and the Pope responded clearly the following morning. Therefore, to provide this text and this list of signatories some days later constitutes a disruption that was not intended by the signatories (at least by the most authoritative). Therefore it would be inappropriate to allow it to have any influence.

That observations can be made regarding the methodology of the Synod is neither new nor surprising. However, once agreed upon, a commitment is made to put it into practice in the best way possible.

This is what is taking place. There is very extensive collaboration in the task of allowing the Synod to make good progress on its path. It may be observed that some of the “signatories” are elected Moderators of the Circuli Minori, and have been working intensively. The overall climate of the Assembly is without doubt positive.

Cardinal Napier has expressly asked me to clarify the comments published in an interview with “Crux”, which do not correspond to his opinion. With regard to the composition of the “Commission of the 10” for the final text, it was incorrectly written that “… Napier said, adding that he would actually challenge ‘Pope Francis’ right to choose that’”. Cardinal Napier has requested that this be corrected, affirming the exact opposite: “… no-one challenges Pope Francis’ right to choose that”.

I have no further observations to make.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
UTV

A brother from the De La Salle order has told the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry that he deeply regrets the IRA abduction of a teenager from one of its schools in west Belfast.

Fifteen-year-old Bernard Teggart was abducted from St Patrick’s on the Glen Road in 1973.

The school has already been criticised for not fulfilling its duty of care, allowing the abduction to happen and failing to report it to authorities.

On Tuesday the De La Salle order said it was of “deep regret” that Bernard was taken from the care of the order and murdered.

Giving evidence at the HIA inquiry, brother Francis Manning said that at the time there was a lot of fear in west Belfast as to what you said or didn’t say, do or didn’t.

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CIUDAD DEL VATICANO
La Nacion (Argentina)

[The pontifical child abuse commission gathers momentum.]

CIUDAD DEL VATICANO (AP).- La comisión convocada por el papa Francisco para lidiar con la cuestión del abuso sexual por parte de religiosos inició una nueva fase de sus tareas. Empezó a llevar la experiencia de sus miembros al mundo en desarrollo, donde algunas conferencias de obispos se han rezagado detrás de sus colegas de habla inglesa en trazar las pautas para prevenir el abuso y atender a las víctimas.

En agosto, tres miembros de la comisión ofrecieron un taller de tres días a 76 de los 92 obispos filipinos para crear un ambiente seguro para los chicos en Filipinas, donde vive el 60% de los católicos de Asia. El mes próximo, el titular de la comisión, el cardenal norteamericano Sean O’Malley, y otros dos miembros de la comisión ofrecerán un encuentro similar para la conferencia de obispos centroamericanos en Costa Rica.

En ambos casos, los mismos obispos se acercaron a la comisión en busca de ayuda, dijeron ayer miembros de la comisión al término de su asamblea plenaria de tres días. Es un hecho importante, dado que los obispos han sido criticados por no sancionar a los sacerdotes abusadores en un intento de proteger a la Iglesia y prevenir escándalos.

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

BY MARK MCGIVERN

A PERVERT priest who has never faced a court has denied paying an alleged victim £10,000 to keep quiet.

Father Paul Moore admits giving the man a cheque for £10,000 but insists it was a loan. He said: “It wasn’t hush money.”

Ayrshire priest Moore, now 79, confessed to his bishop in the 1990s that he had abused children over several years.

But prosecutors decided not to put him on trial.

Instead, he was sent to a centre in Canada for priests with psychological problems, then allowed to retire to a house in Largs bought by the Catholic Church.

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AUSTRALIA
Coffs Coast Advocate

David Barwell | 13th Oct 2015

A FORMER Catholic priest facing a string of historic child sex abuse charges has been released on bail.

John Patrick Casey, 67, who served as a priest for the Mary Help of Christians Parish at the time of his arrest on July 9, appeared in Lismore Local Court on October 6 for the mention of his nine charges.

The charges relate to sexual offences allegedly committed against two brothers, aged nine and 11, in 1985.

Magistrate David Heilpern adjourned Casey’s matters to November 3 and bail was refused.

On October 8, Casey’s solicitor made another application to the Supreme Court of NSW for bail, arguing his client had been subjected to threats by other inmates during his time in custody.

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VATICAN CITY
Headlines from the Catholic World

Vatican City, Oct 12, 2015 / 12:05 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- When it comes to protection against abuse, guidelines need to be implemented according to the customs of each country if they are to be effective, said one official of the Vatican’s commission for the protection of minors, which met in Rome over the weekend.

“The important thing about guidelines is that they’ve got to fit the country that they’re in, and the culture that they’re in,” said commission member Bill Kilgallon, director of the National Office for Professional Standards of the Catholic Church in New Zealand.

“What we don’t want to do is impose something that we don’t have the power to impose. But it won’t work if you try and impose something that’s the same for everybody,” he told CNA.

“Guidelines are important, but the implementation of the guidelines is more important,” he said.
Kilgallon was present at a briefing held following this month’s set of meetings of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, which ran Oct. 9-11.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

by Ann O’Loughlin

Four women who claim they were used as forced labour in a Magdalene Laundry but who have been excluded from the Government compensation scheme have launched a High Court challenge.

A judge yesterday was told the basis for excluding the women from the scheme set up two years ago is that while it was accepted they worked at the St Mary’s Refuge Magdalene Laundry, at the High Park Convent, Drumcondra, Dublin 9, they were not admitted to it.

They had been admitted to An Grianan Institution, which was on the grounds of the convent of the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of Refuge, also at High Park, Grace Park Rd, in Drumcondra. An Grianan was deemed a separate and specific institution to the laundry.

The women all claim they were forced to perform forced labour for no pay at the laundry when they were residents at An Grianan. They claim they had very little education there, which had a serious detrimental effect on their lives. Due to this, they say, there are entitled to be included.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

By Conall Ó Fátharta
Irish Examiner Reporter

Church of Ireland Bishop Paul Colton was so moved by the experience of a survivor of the Westbank orphanage that he has called for all Protestant homes to be included in the Mother and Baby Home investigation.

In a letter to the head of the Mother and Baby Home Commission, Judge Yvonne Murphy, Dr Colton said he had been contacted by Victor Stevenson with an enquiry about Cork Mother and Baby Home, Braemar House.

Although the institution was not formally linked to the Church of Ireland, Dr Colton was so moved at a “human level” by Mr Stevenson’s life story, that he has called on Judge Murphy to call on Children’s Minister James Reilly to widen the scope of the inquiry to include Protestant Mother and Baby Homes.

“I have been moved by Mr Stevenson’s quest. He was born in 1959 and I in 1960. Putting myself in his shoes, I would want to know what he wants to know; his search for information has motivated me too at a human level.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

OCTOBER 13, 2015

Michael Owen
SA Bureau Chief
Adelaide

All compensation payments to victims of sexual and physical abuse will be reviewed by the ­Salvation Army, but there will be no changes until the Turnbull government states whether it ­intends to establish and fund a ­national redress scheme.

Salvation Army territorial commander Floyd Tidd yesterday told a royal commission that even if a review concluded a victim’s compensation was inappropriate, an increased amount would not be allocated until the federal government responded to a recommendation for a $4 billion national redress scheme.

“This will assist us in understanding the appropriateness of the monetary values that have been established,” Mr Tidd told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Adelaide yesterday.

This will increase pressure on the Turnbull government for a ­national compensation scheme.

State and territory attorneys-general have written to the federal government asking for “the ­earliest possible indication from the commonwealth as to whether it intends to establish and fund a national redress scheme”.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

Victims of sex abuse in homes run by the Salvation Army will likely have to wait several years to learn if a review of their cases will result in increased compensation payments.

The review of all previous settlements is already underway by the army in relation to children who were abused at four homes – at Eden Park in Adelaide, at Box Hill and Bayswater in Melbourne and at Nedlands in Perth.

In some cases former residents who were abused over long periods received just a few thousand dollars.

But the Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse has been told that a decision on what increased payments might be made would not be taken until after the federal government’s response to the commission’s findings with particular reference to a national redress scheme.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Candice Marcus

Victims of sexual abuse at Salvation Army-run children’s homes are angry that an internal review of past compensation settlements will only focus on “outliers” and all other claims would only be reopened as part of a national redress scheme.

Commissioner Floyd Tidd, the Salvation Army’s southern territory commander, has been recalled to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse to clarify the review process.

The commission is examining four Salvation Army-run children’s homes in Western Australia, South Australia and Victoria.

Commissioner Tidd has given evidence that 418 past compensation settlements with survivors of sexual and physical abuse at Salvation Army-run children’s homes will be reviewed.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

THE Salvation Army had no procedures or policies to deal with allegations of child sexual abuse when it started to receive a growing volume of claims in the 1990s, a royal commission has heard.

THE situation was “all new to the organisation”, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse was told in Adelaide on Tuesday.

“Remember, we didn’t really know how to handle this,” former Salvation Army employee relations director Graham Sapwell said.

The commission heard how the army first sought legal advice in 1994 but did not take action to put a policy in place until 1997.

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SCOTLAND
Premier

Tue 13 Oct 2015
By Antony Bushfield

A retired priest accused of child sex abuse has denied he gave an alleged victim £10,000 to keep him quiet.

Fr Paul Moore, from Ayrshire, Scotland, said the money to the altar boy was a “loan” and a “private matter”.

The Catholic priest had admitted to child sex offences to the then Bishop of Galloway, Maurice Taylor, in the late 90s but he escaped police prosecution.

A BBC investigation found one of the alleged victims, an un-named man now in his 40s, claims to have been abused for several years as a teenager in Ayrshire.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Gazette Live

A former teacher at a children’s home has gone on trial accused of sexual abuse.

Michael Curran, from Ingleby Barwick, is accused along with two other men of abusing pupils at St William’s – an approved school for boys with behavioural problems in Market Weighton, East Yorkshire.

The residential home and school was run by the Catholic De La Salle order.

Former principal James Carragher, 75, is one of the two other men on trial at Leeds Crown Court.

He has already been jailed for 21 years for sexually abusing boys in his care has gone on trial accused of further offences.

A jury has been told that was jailed for seven years in 1993 and a further 14 years in 2004 for offences he committed.

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VATICAN CITY
Irish Times

Paddy Agnew

Tue, Oct 13, 2015

Senior conservative cardinals have complained that efforts are being made at the Synod of Bishops in Rome to guarantee liberal-sounding “pre-cooked” policy declarations emerge from the gathering.

A letter to Pope Francis, signed by up to nine cardinals, expressed concern about “procedural processes”, saying that interim papers in the past had not always properly reflected the discussions.

Speaking to The Irish Times, one of the signatories, South African cardinal Wilfred Napier, said a document calling for greater inclusivity towards homosexuals had been published at last year’s synod without the prior knowledge of many.

“You guys,” he said, addressing the media, “knew all about that document before we did . . . I recall too that one or two synod fathers had said things in the synod [about the pastoral approach to homosexuals] and that was presented as if the whole synod had taken that stance,” he said.

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VATICAN CITY
Scottish Catholic Observer

Media storm of less concern than breach of privacy, says German cardinal about letter to Pope on synod process concerns

Cardinal Gerhard Müller has said that, while the leak of a letter allegedly sent to Pope Francis by leading cardinals raising concerns over new synod procedures is ‘a new Vatileaks,’ there is no great dispute over the family synod.

The German cardinal (above), who is also Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has declined to confirm whether he signed the letter or not. He did admit to tensions in the synod ‘between doctrine and pastoral approach,’ but added that it is the task of the synod ‘to see these two aspects together.’

“The scandal is that it makes public a private letter of the Pope,” Cardinal Müller said. “This is a new Vatileaks: The Pope’s private documents are private property of the Pope and no one else. No one can publish it, I do not know how that could happen.”

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NEW YORK
Times Ledger

By Gabriel Rom

As Pope Francis concluded his historic trip to the United States, he told a group of sexual abuse victims in Philadelphia that “God weeps for the sexual abuse of children.”

For Assemblywoman Margaret Markey (D-Maspeth), who has spent nearly a decade trying to pass a bill that would eliminate the statute of limitations for sex crimes against children, his remarks didn’t go nearly far enough in addressing the church’s role in perpetrating and enabling child abuse.

A Catholic, Markey said that she is deeply concerned with the church’s legacy in America, and had hoped the Pope would spur a moral reckoning within the church hierarchy to help victims find closure and bring them back into the fold.

“Part of the reason church attendance is dwindling,” Markey speculated, “is that they refuse to address the issue of sexual abuse of children. This is an issue that is crying out for attention from voters, too. They want to see justice for victims.”

Markey’s bill would do away with the statute of limitations in New York state for victims of child sex abuse, which currently gives them until the age of 23 to file a civil or criminal claim against their abusers. It would also create a “civil window” to suspend the existing statute of limitations on civil cases for one year, so that those who were victimized before the law was enacted can bring suits against individuals or private institutions involved in past crimes. However, it would not eliminate the criminal statute of limitations for these crimes.

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TEXAS
WRIC

[with video]

TARRANT COUNTY, Texas (WRIC) — Sentencing is set to continue today for the former Richmond pastor found guilty of sexually assaulting two underage girls in the 1990s.

Geronimo ‘Pastor G’ Aguilar was convicted in June on child sex assault charges in Texas. 8News Investigative Reporter Kerri O’Brien is the only Richmond reporter in Fort Worth covering his sentencing.

Yesterday in court, the judge heard from Aguilar’s victims. They described the damage that years and years of sexual abuse had on them and their families.

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TEXAS
NBC 12

By Shawn Maclauchlan
Updated by Curtis McCloud

FORT WORTH, TX (WWBT) –
Sentencing continues Tuesday for Geronimo Aguilar, better known as “Pastor G,” on child sex abuse charges.

A Texas jury found the former Richmond megachurch pastor guilty of sexually assaulting two children in the 1990s.

Both the prosecution and defense wanted to see a delay in the sentencing to allow the judge to hear more witness in this case.

Aguilar was a founding member of the Richmond Outreach Center (ROC) in 2001. It quickly caught on and was even named one of the fastest growing churches in America. In 2013, he and three other pastors resigned from the church after Aguilar was arrested and charged with the sexual assault of two girls in Texas back in the 1990s, before he founded ROC.

“His actions impacted the lives of many people in the Richmond community,” said Don Blake with the Virginia Christian Alliance. “I have a great deal of empathy and sorrow for his family to have to go through this, but justice was done. He owes a debt to society that he will have to pay.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Hull Daily Mail

THE principal of a former children’s home, who has already served 21 years for sexually abusing children, has gone on trial accused of 62 further offences against young boys.

James Carragher, 75, a former headmaster of St William’s approved school in Market Weighton, “hid behind a cloak of respectability” to abuse boys in his care, a jury was told.

He and Anthony McCallen, 69, and Michael Curran, 62, are on trial together at Leeds Crown Court, and between them are accused of almost 90 offences against 19 former pupils at the residential home.

The school, run by the Roman Catholic De La Salle religious order, was home to “troubled” boys aged between 12 and 16, who were “undoubtedly amongst the most vulnerable in society”, the court heard.

Read more: http://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/St-William-8217-s-children-8217-s-home-staff/story-27968967-detail/story.html#ixzz3oRfRBV3W
Follow us: @hulldailymail on Twitter | HullDailyMail on Facebook

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Daily Reporter

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First Posted: October 12, 2015

KANSAS CITY, Missouri — The Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph has agreed to pay $200,000 to settle a lawsuit over a parent’s claims that a pedophile priest took obscene photos of her two minor daughters.

The out-of-court settlements, finalized last week, bring to about $4 million the amount the diocese has paid out to plaintiffs in cases involving Shawn Ratigan, The Kansas City Star (http://bit.ly/1L8ldPC) reported Monday. Ratigan, whose computers were found to contain hundreds of lewd photos of young girls, was sentenced to 50 years in federal prison and 21 years in state prison after pleading guilty to child pornography charges.

His case also resulted in a misdemeanor criminal conviction in 2012 against former Bishop Robert Finn for failing to report suspected child sexual abuse to the state. Finn, the highest-ranking church official in the U.S. to be convicted of taking no action over abuse allegations, resigned in April.

Diocesan spokesman Jack Smith said Monday that the settlements, which will be funded by the diocese’s internal self-insurance program, included an offer of counseling for the two girls and their mother if they desire it.

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ROME
Crux

By John L. Allen Jr.
Associate editor October 12, 2015

ROME — A member of Pope Francis’ Vatican commission to fight child sexual abuse said Monday that when the pontiff praised the “courage” of the American bishops in handling abuse during his recent trip to the United States, he was engaged in a delicate balancing act.

That line stirred controversy among abuse survivors and their advocates, who argued that some US prelates have a less than exemplary record in terms of making the Church’s “zero tolerance” standard stick.

Bill Kilgallon, a career social work and health service professional who heads up a working group within the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors on anti-abuse guidelines, acknowledged the point.

“It would be fair to say that bishops have varied,” he told Crux on Monday.

Yet Kilgallon said that for reform to be successful, Francis not only has to demonstrate solidarity with victims, but also has to bring his own bishops along.

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NEW MEXICO
Albuquerque Journal

By Olivier Uyttebrouck / Journal Staff Writer
Published: Tuesday, October 13th, 2015

Recent lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Santa Fe identify two former priests whose names have surfaced in the past as alleged sexual abusers, including one who was the victim of a 1997 homicide.

The lawsuits, both filed in August in state District Court in Albuquerque, were filed by unidentified men who say they were raped as boys by priests who served in parishes in the archdiocese. Archdiocese officials could not be reached for comment on Monday.

In one lawsuit, a New Mexico native now living out of state alleged he was raped over a period of about two years while serving as an altar boy at Sacred Heart Church in Española in the late 1980s.

The suit identifies the attacker as the Rev. Armando Martinez, who at age 62 was killed by a blow to the head after he picked up a hitchhiker near Bernalillo, according to news reports. Dennis Carbajal, then 38, was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to 50 years in prison for the killing. Carbajal later died in prison.

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NETHERLANDS
Dutch News

The Dutch Catholic church is to pay financial compensation to 250 victims of sexual abuse whose cases were earlier dismissed.

The committee investigating the abuse determined earlier that 250 cases are not proven, mainly because there were no other complaints about the priest concerned.

The decision to pay compensation follows concerns by commission members that rejected complaints were also true, despite the lack of evidence.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

OCTOBER 13, 2015

Michael Owen
SA Bureau Chief
Adelaide

All compensation payments to victims of sexual and physical abuse will be reviewed by the ­Salvation Army, but there will be no changes until the Turnbull government states whether it ­intends to establish and fund a ­national redress scheme.

Salvation Army territorial commander Floyd Tidd yesterday told a royal commission that even if a review concluded a victim’s compensation was inappropriate, an increased amount would not be allocated until the federal government responded to a recommendation for a $4 billion national redress scheme.

“This will assist us in understanding the appropriateness of the monetary values that have been established,” Mr Tidd told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Adelaide yesterday.

This will increase pressure on the Turnbull government for a ­national compensation scheme.

State and territory attorneys-general have written to the federal government asking for “the ­earliest possible indication from the commonwealth as to whether it intends to establish and fund a national redress scheme”.

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MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

10/12/2015

Father Antonio “Tony” Marfori,

St. Cloud Priest Accused of Sexual Abuse, Currently Working in Elk River Parish and School
Fr. Marfori presently works as a “sacramental minister” at St. Andrew’s Parish in Elk River
Recent reports allege Fr. Marfori sexually abused two children in the late 1970s

What: At a news conference on Tuesday in St. Paul attorneys Jeff Anderson and Mike Bryant will:

· Announce the filing of a civil lawsuit naming the Diocese of St. Cloud,Father Antonio “Tony” Marfori and Cathedral High School as defendants. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Doe 75, who was sexually abused by Fr. Marfori when he was approximately 15 years old. Fr. Marfori was Doe 75’s religion teacher at Cathedral High School in St. Cloud.

· Request the Diocese of St. Cloud release all the files of clerics credibly accused of sexual abuse. To-date, the Diocese of St. Cloud has publicly named 33 clerics with credible allegations of child sexual abuse.

· Encourage other survivors of sexual abuse by Fr. Marfori, and others, to come forward safely and confidentially before the Child Victims Act window legislation expires on May 25, 2016.

WHEN: Tuesday October 13, 2015, at 11:00AM CT

WHERE: Jeff Anderson & Associates
366 Jackson Street, Suite 100
St. Paul, MN 55101

Notes:

· A copy of the complaint will be available at the press conference and on our website tomorrow and the event will be live-streamed online with links available on our homepage at www.andersonadvocates.com.

Contact Jeff Anderson: Office: 651.318.2650 Cell: 612.817.8665
Contact Mike Bryant: Office: 320.259.5414 Cell: 800.359.0061

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MINNESOTA
St. Cloud Times

David Unze, dunze@stcloudtimes.com October 12, 2015

A lawsuit that will be filed Tuesday in Stearns County District Court accuses a St. Cloud diocese priest of sexually abusing a St. Cloud Cathedral High School student in the 1970s.

Father Antonio (Tony) Marfori is a sacramental minister at the Church of St. Andrew in Elk River. He was assigned to St. Mary’s Cathedral in 1979-80, when the abuse is alleged to have occurred, according to Jeffrey Anderson, who is representing the men suing Marfori.

Marfori abused two students in the late 1970s, according to Anderson.

The lawsuit that Anderson is filing names Marfori, the Diocese of St. Cloud and Cathedral High School as defendants. The man filing the lawsuit claims that Marfori abused him when he was 15, when Marfori was a religion teacher at Cathedral.

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TEXAS
WRIC

By Kerri O’Brien
Published: October 12, 2015

FORT WORTH, Texas (WRIC) — Sentencing for the former Richmond mega church pastor Geronimo Aguilar began with emotional testimony from one of the victims, but also new explosive allegations — a Richmond woman who says the former pastor got her pregnant and paid for her abortion.

“We were having an affair,” said Kelly Richey, a former Richmond Outreach Center parishioner. “I went to him and told him I would abort but I didn’t have any money.”

While cross examining, Aguilar’s attorney asked every witness about the outreach of the former ROC church and the difference it made in the Richmond community. It appears to be part of an effort to show Aguilar, who founded the mega church, did some good in his life.

So far, the judge has heard from more than six witnesses for the prosecution including the father of a Richmond teen who during the trial testified that Aguilar molested her at the ROC church.

“We were having an affair,” said Kelly Richey, a former Richmond Outreach Center parishioner. “I went to him and told him I would abort but I didn’t have any money.”

“He is wolf in sheep’s clothing because that’s what he did to my family he was a predator on my family,” the father said.

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

VATICAN CITY | BY PHILIP PULLELLA

A gathering of world Roman Catholic bishops was thrown into confusion on Monday with the leak of a letter from conservative cardinals to Pope Francis bitterly complaining that the meeting was stacked against them.

It was published by the same Italian journalist whose press credentials were stripped by the Holy See last June after he ran a leaked copy of the pope’s major encyclical on the environment.

The gathering, or synod, of more than 300 bishops, delegates and observers, including some married couples, is discussing how the 1.2 billion-member Church can confront challenges facing the modern family.

The bishops are debating ways to defend the traditional family and make life-long marriage more appealing to young people, and at the same time reach out to disaffected Catholics such as homosexuals, co-habiting couples and the divorced.

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ROME
The Independent (UK)

Lee Williams @leeroy112 Monday 12 October 2015

A priest sacked by the Vatican after coming out has said there is no gay lobby in the Vatican.

Krzysztof Charamsa told a private Italian TV channel: “I met homosexual priests, often isolated like me… but no gay lobby,” according to the MailOnline.

The 43-year-old Polish ex-priest added that he had met gay priests who were also “homophobes” and had “hatred for themselves and others”.

His remarks are a response to rumours of a gay network within the church seeking to influence the Vatican. The Pope has mentioned such a lobby in the past, telling Catholic leaders in 2013: “The ‘gay lobby’ is mentioned, and it is true, it is there.”

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UNITED STATES
Get Religion

Jim Davis

Gotta hand it to Agence France-Presse. Its story on the Rev. Krzysztof Charamsa neatly packs two distortions in one lede.

In advancing Charamsa’s interview with a TV channel, the article starts off limping:

Rome (AFP) – A high-ranking Polish priest who was fired after coming out as gay before the Vatican’s key synod on the family said on Sunday that there was no “gay lobby” in the Church.

Krzysztof Charamsa told a private Italian television channel that he has “never met a gay lobby in the Vatican”, referring to rumours of a network of homosexual priests.

“I met homosexual priests, often isolated like me… but no gay lobby,” said Charamsa, adding that he also met gay priests who were “homophobes” and had “hatred for themselves and others”.

You could almost use this story for a seminar on how not to write news.

To start: Charamsa was not fired as a priest. He was fired from his position as an assistant secretary in the Vatican-level Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Other media, like the New York Daily News, said more accurately that he was “dismissed from his post at the Vatican.” The News also pointed out that Charamsa hadn’t lost his credentials as a priest; that decision was left to his bishop.

Nor was Charamsa fired merely for coming out. He was fired for coming out at a press conference beside his male partner, calling for a change in church doctrine about homosexuality. He even issued a 10-point “liberation manifesto” against “institutionalised homophobia in the Church.”

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MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star

BY JUDY L. THOMAS
jthomas@kcstar.com

The Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph has settled two claims totaling $200,000 involving a former priest now serving prison time for producing child pornography.

The claims were made by a parent who alleged that Shawn Ratigan took obscene photos of her two minor daughters.

The out-of-court settlements, finalized last week, stemmed from a “friendly lawsuit” filed against the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners in 2014 in Jackson County Associate Circuit Court. Rebecca Randles, an attorney representing the family, said the lawsuit was filed to determine whether police had photos in their investigative files that would prove the girls were victims of Ratigan.

“Once it was determined that in fact pictures existed, we were able to settle the claims before filing a civil suit,” Randles said.

Diocesan spokesman Jack Smith on Monday confirmed the settlements and said they included an offer of counseling for the two girls and their mother if they desire it. He said the settlements will be funded by the diocese’s internal self-insurance program.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Business Journal

Rich Kirchen
Senior Reporter
Milwaukee Business Journal

The Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee bankruptcy case has received national notoriety as the largest of its kind, so why did the archdiocese spend $250,000 to publish legal notices in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and USA Today?

That expenditure was on top of $134,356 the archdiocese devoted in 2011 to publish a legal notice in the same newspapers giving the bar date for filing proofs of claims in the case.

Sunday’s notice, which also appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and the largest newspapers in Minnesota, Arizona and Florida, was published to comply with an order signed by the case’s U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Susan Kelley in Milwaukee.

The archdiocese’s insurers required the archdiocese to publish the notices as part of the bankruptcy-case settlement, said Jerry Topczewski, chief of staff for the Office of the Archbishop Jerome Listecki.

The goal of insurers is to make every effort to spread the word on the settlement to anyone who might have a claim or concern.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Oct. 12, 2015

VATICAN CITY Disagreement at the highest levels of the Catholic church about the worldwide meeting of bishops on the family seemed to come to the fore Monday with publication of a private letter from several cardinals to Pope Francis, before a number of the prelates disassociated themselves from the document.

The letter, reportedly given to the pontiff on the first day of the ongoing Synod of Bishops, sees the cardinals sharply criticize the meeting; even saying it “seems designed to facilitate predetermined results on important disputed questions.”

But although the letter was first revealed Monday morning with reports of signatures from 13 cardinals, by afternoon at least four of the group had disassociated themselves from it — saying they had never signed the document or supported its arguments.

The intrigue led Vatican spokesman Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi to tell reporters at a mid-day briefing that they should “have caution” in reporting on the document, and verify each of the alleged signatures.

The letter, published in full with a list of signatories Monday morning by Italian journalist Sandro Magister, was allegedly given to the pope Oct. 5 just at the beginning of the work of the Synod of Bishops.

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ROME
Crux

By Michael O’Loughlin, Inés San Martín, and John L. Allen Jr.
Crux Staff October 12, 2015

ROME — Two high-profile cardinals taking part in the Synod of Bishops on the family offered different views on Monday about some elements of the process, with one scoffing at charges of manipulation and stacking the deck, and another saying there are real uncertainties and doubts.

Cardinals Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C., and Wilfrid Fox Napier of Durban, South Africa, spoke Monday afternoon in separate Crux interviews.

Wuerl is part of a 10-member drafting committee charged with producing the synod’s final document, a role he also held last year during the 2014 edition of the synod. Napier, who was added to that group halfway through in 2014, is currently serving as one of four delegate presidents at the 2015 synod.

Wuerl is known as a moderate on most political and theological questions, while Napier emerged during the 2014 synod as a leader of the conservative opposition to progressive proposals on matters such as divorce and homosexuality.

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CHILE
Church Militant

[with video]

by Christine Niles • October 12, 2015

OSORNO, Chile, October 12, 2015 (ChurchMilitant.com) – There’s been an uproar in Chile ever since Pope Francis called critics of a controversial Chilean bishop “dumb.”

Bishop Juan Barros Madrid, appointed by Pope Francis early this year to head the diocese of Osorno, Chile, has been dogged by controversy for allegedly covering up sex abuse by priest-friend Francisco Karadima 20 years ago.

Madrid has repeatedly denied the charges, and Pope Francis came to his defense back in May when he called the protestors in Osorno “dumb” and “led by the nose by the leftists who orchestrated all of this.”

The video was obtained by a Chilean TV station and aired on October 2, and has since caused public outcry by victims of Fr. Karadima, who are now doubting the Holy Father’s commitment to eradicating sex abuse in the clergy.

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NEW MEXICO
Gallup Independent

Published in the Gallup Independent, Gallup, N.M., Oct. 9, 2015

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

ALBUQUERQUE — U.S. Bankruptcy Judge David T. Thuma issued a mild admonishment to Diocese of Gallup attorneys for barring the public and the media from a diocese property auction in Albuquerque Sept. 19.

However, in a hearing Wednesday, Thuma declined to invalidate the auction sale or order a new sale, citing concerns that money spent advertising a new auction couldn’t guarantee higher sales prices, which would actually hurt the clergy sex abuse claimants who are the primary creditors in the case.

“The court intended the auction to be a public auction,” Thuma said. “The auction was public in the sense that it was advertised to the public and any member of the public was invited to bid. It wasn’t public in the sense that non-bidders, such as the press or non-bidding members of the public, were not allowed to observe.”

‘Not nefarious’

The Gallup Diocese had hired George H. “Hank” Amos III, CEO and president of Tucson Realty & Trust Co., and Todd Good, CEO and president of Accelerated Marketing Group, to publicize and conduct property auctions for the diocese in Phoenix and Albuquerque. Both Amos and Good conducted a similar property auction for lead bankruptcy attorney Susan Boswell when she directed the Diocese of Tucson’s bankruptcy case a decade ago.

At the Albuquerque auction, Good barred Meredith Edelman, a doctoral scholar conducting research, and a Gallup Independent reporter from observing the event. Good claimed he had a policy of only allowing qualified bidders into his auctions.

After Edelman and the Gallup Independent wrote letters of complaint to Thuma, the judge issued a notice to show cause Friday and set a hearing date for Oct. 19. Diocese attorneys requested the hearing be moved up because sales from the Phoenix auction were scheduled to close by Oct. 12.

“In my 33 years of conducting auctions, it is, and has been, my custom and practice not to admit non-bidders to an auction,” Good said in a statement submitted to the court Tuesday evening.

“This is because non-bidders do not increase bid prices. Rather, they have the potential to distract legitimate potential buyers, disrupt the auction, or chill bidding.”

At the hearing, diocesan attorney Lori Winkelman repeated Good’s assertion and said his actions were “not nefarious or selective in any way.”

Dollars and cents

“The only result that can come from having the sale unwound is harm to the creditors,” Winkelman argued. “That would result in additional cost and it would also result in potentially losing bidders.”

Winkelman said Boswell had notified James Stang, the legal counsel for the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors, about the incident, and Stang had not expressed an objection to how the auction was conducted. The committee represents the interests of clergy sex abuse claimants in the case.

Ilan D. Scharf, an attorney who also represents the committee, admitted the situation left the committee “in a quandary” and “stuck with a Catch-22” situation. “So, your honor, while we’re disappointed that these two individuals were excluded from the auction,” he said, “we think that it would be a mistake to unwind the auction from a dollars and cents perspective.”

Phoenix attorney Robert E. Pastor, who represents more than a dozen clergy abuse claimants, agreed that “quandary” raised a number of concerns. One concern, he said, was diocesan attorneys hadn’t provided the court with attendance sheets from the auctions.

“To be clear, I’m not objecting, but I’m not blessing this sale either,” Pastor said. “I think the exclusion of the two witnesses is problematic given the promise to be truthful and transparent, and given the sensitive nature of this proceeding.”

Two definitions

After a brief recess, Thuma explained his findings, which he said were based on statements made by the individuals barred from the auction and written declarations by Good and Boswell.

Although Thuma admitted he had “intended the auction to be a public auction,” he spent time dissecting the meaning of “public auction,” which he said was not defined in the bankruptcy code or rules. The term was “susceptible to two definitions,” he explained.

Citing case law, Thuma said a public auction could mean the public and the press could attend even if they have no intention of bidding. But it could also mean, he said, the public was invited to bid at the auction.

“Under that construction, excluding non-bidders does not destroy the public nature of the auction,” he said of the latter meaning. “There’s no question in my mind that if the press had come to me before the auction and said, ‘Can I attend, I won’t disrupt, I just want to observe,’ I would clearly have let them do that. And I’m sorry that didn’t happen.”

Thuma, however, did not address the fact that the different possible meanings of “public auction” were not clarified in any of the auction documents.

Thuma said the manner in which auction was conducted was “OK under case law,” but he did call the exclusion of the public and the press “a political miscalculation or maybe an error in judgment.”

If he could redo the auction sale with little or no expense, Thuma said he might invalidate the auction and order a new one. But because it would cost money to re-advertise a new auction at the risk of getting even lower prices, Thuma said he would not invalidate the sale.

“I guess I will admonish counsel if we do have other auctions to make sure that the press can attend,” he told the diocesan attorneys. He also reminded them to “err on the side of keeping this an open proceeding.”

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VATICAN CITY
Religion News Service

David Gibson | October 12, 2015

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Tensions already roiling a high level Vatican summit spilled into the open on Monday (Oct. 12) with the publication of a letter allegedly sent to Pope Francis from 13 conservative cardinals — including Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York — warning of plots by progressives to hijack the proceedings.

In the letter, the senior churchmen said that if the reformers succeeded in changing the church’s approach to modern families it could send the Catholic Church down the path of Protestant denominations that abandoned “key elements of Christian belief and practice in the name of pastoral adaptation.”

But within hours of the letter’s release four of the cardinals denied having signed the letter.

Two other cardinals said they signed the letter but that its contents were somewhat different from the version that emerged Monday. Meanwhile, a spokesman for Dolan said the cardinal declined comment.

The outright denials – from the archbishops of Paris, Milan and Budapest, plus an Italian cardinal who works in the Roman Curia – and uncertainty about who signed what, raised questions about the legitimacy of the letter, which was published by an Italian Vatican-watcher, Sandro Magister, a persistent critic of Francis.

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VATICAN CITY
ABC News

By NICOLE WINFIELD, ASSOCIATED PRESS
VATICAN CITY — Oct 12, 2015

Pope Francis’ sex abuse commission has begun an important new phase of its work: Bringing the expertise of its members to the developing world where bishops’ conferences have lagged behind their English-speaking counterparts in crafting guidelines to prevent abuse and care for survivors.

In August, three members of the commission held a three-day workshop with 76 of the 92 Filipino bishops on creating safe environments for children in the Philippines, where 60 percent of Asia’s Catholics live. Next month, the head of the commission, Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston, and two other commission members will host a similar workshop for the Central American bishops’ conference in Costa Rica.

In both cases, the bishops themselves came to the commission and asked for help, commission members said Monday at the end of their three-day plenary assembly. That’s an important development given that bishops have long been criticized for failing to sanction abusive priests in a bid to protect the church and prevent scandal.

“It is a fairly big deal,” said Gabriel Dy-Liacco, a commission member, psychotherapist and pastoral counselor from the Philippines who arranged the workshop. “It’s important to note that they’re the ones who asked for it, which I think is great. It means the motivation is coming from them, not from us. And that’s precisely what this type of work needs.”

In 2011, after thousands of people in Europe, Latin America and beyond came forward with reports that priests had raped and molested them as children, the Vatican asked bishops’ conferences around the world to draft guidelines to fight abuse, help survivors and cooperate with civil authorities. While many conferences drafted the guidelines and sent them to Rome for review, others lagged behind — particularly in West Africa and other parts of the developing world where the scandal hasn’t made headlines.

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ROME
Church Militant

by Christine Niles • October 12, 2015

ROME, October 12, 2015 (ChurchMilitant.com) – At least three cardinals are now denying they’ve signed a strongly worded letter to Pope Francis critical of the synodal process. According to the latest reports, Cardinal Peter Ërdo, relator general for the Synod, who issued an opening address last Monday defending Catholic orthodoxy, is denying he ever signed the letter. Paris archbishop André Vingt-Trois and Milan’s Cdl. Angelo Scola also deny they ever added their signatures. Additionally, Cdl. Mauro Piacenza’s name — one of the signatories — is missing from Sandro Magister’s list, leading to speculation that Piacenza has also backed away from acknowledging any part in this public plea to the Holy Father.

The updated list of signatories includes:

– Cdl. Gerhard L. Müller (Prefect, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith)- Cdl. Carlo Caffarra (Bologna, Italy)
– Cdl. George Pell (Prefect, Secretariat for the Economy)
– Cdl. Robert Sarah (Prefect, Congregation for Divine worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments)
– Cdl. Thomas C. Collins (Toronto, Canada)
– Cdl. Timothy M. Dolan (New York)
– Cdl. Willem J. Eijk (Utrecht, Holland)
– Cdl. Wilfrid Fox Napier (Durban, South Africa)
– Cdl. Jorge L. Urosa Savino (Caracas, Venezuela)

Notable, too, are the names not among the signatories, including American prelates like Cdl. Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C. and Cdl. Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, Texas.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Western Gazette

THE Bishop of Bath and Wells has said that former bishop Peter Ball should never have been allowed to serve in the Langport area during his retirement.

Bishop Peter Ball, from Aller, was sentenced to 32 months at the Old Bailey on Wednesday after pleading guilty to sexual offences.

His former employer, the Right Reverend Peter Hancock, has said that checks are now “more robust” and has apologised “unreservedly” to the public.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A retired Church of England priest from West Sussex has denied a string of sex offences against boys and young men dating back more than 40 years.

Vickery House, 69, of Brighton Road, Handcross, pleaded not guilty to eight charges of indecent assault at the Old Bailey on the first day of his trial.

The case before Judge Christine Henson is expected to be opened on Tuesday.

Mr House is charged with indecent assaults against six males aged 15 to 34 between 1970 and 1986.

The first two charges allege he indecently assaulted a boy of 15 between April 1970 and April 1971.

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