ABUSE TRACKER

SCOTLAND
BBC Scotland

By Mark Daly
BBC Scotland Investigations Correspondent

A retired Catholic priest accused of child sex abuse gave one of his alleged victims a cheque for £10,000, a BBC Scotland investigation has revealed.

Fr Paul Moore has denied that the cheque to the former altar boy was intended as “hush money”.

The former Ayrshire priest says it was “a loan” and a “private matter”.

Fr Moore admitted to child sex offences to the then Bishop of Galloway, Maurice Taylor, in the late 90s and was removed from the ministry.

He has never been prosecuted and lives in a home bought for him by the church.

Two years ago, the BBC revealed claims by former altar boy Paul Smyth that he’d been abused by Fr Moore. Although he gave testimony anonymously at the time, he’s since decided to waive his anonymity.

“I just want people to know the truth, I’m not running away any more,” he said.
Abuse on beach

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VATICAN CITY
GlobalPost

AFP

Conservative cardinals have accused Pope Francis of stacking the cards against them in an ongoing battle over issues including the Church’s approach to gays and to divorced and remarried believers, it emerged Monday.

In a letter sent to the pontiff on October 5, the opening day of a Church synod on the family, a group of 13 cardinals described procedures for three weeks of discussions as “designed to facilitate predetermined results on important disputed questions.”

The ostensibly private (but quickly leaked) letter was delivered to the pope by Australian Cardinal George Pell and signed by 12 of his peers, including the archbishops of Toronto and New York, Thomas Collins and Timothy Dolan, and two of the Vatican’s arch-conservatives, Hungarian cardinal Peter Erdo and Carlo Caffarra, the archbishop of Bologna.

A day later, without making any reference to the letter, Francis made an unscheduled intervention in the synod discussions to warn participants not to be taken in by “spiritually unhelpful” conspiracy theories.

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VATICAN CTY
Vatican Radio

[with audio]

(Vatican Radio) The problems of sexual abuse and child protection have been back under the spotlight in the Vatican as the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors held its second plenary assembly. The meeting, from October 9th to 11th focused on formation of candidates for priesthood and religious life, the use of forensic assessments for people accused of sex abuse crimes and the use of liturgical support materials for the pastoral care of survivors.

One of the Commission members is Professor Gabriel Dy-Liacco, a psychotherapist and pastoral counsellor for mental health issues in the Philippines. He works closely with both survivors and perpetrators of sexual abuse and was involved in facilitating a recent Commission workshop on these issues for bishops in the Philippines. He told Philippa Hitchen that Church leaders in his country are determined to tackle the problems of child protection, despite the difficulties of talking about abuse within the Filipino culture…

Dy-Liacco says it’s difficult to talk about clergy abuse of children but also sexual abuse in general, so the workshop that the Filipino bishops requested is “groundbreaking, not only for the Church but for Filipino society as well”

Asked about the difficulties of implementing suggestions or best practice from the workshop, Dy Liacco says the bishops are motivated and have come up with concrete plans that are expected to be announced in the new year. As early as the 1980s, he notes that some bishops were aware of the problem and were trying to tackle the issue within their own dioceses. He says they are now happy to hear from the Commission about what they can do to improve, to share resources and “to address the problems quickly, responsibly and effectively”.

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ESPANA
Publico

El Vaticano dice que tras “una amplia investigación” no hay indicios que incriminen a un profesor laico al que la familia de un alumno denunció en 2013 por abusos. Francisco, además, ordena en su resolución “restablecer el buen nombre y la fama del acusado”.

EFE
BILBAO.— El Papa Francisco ha ordenado cerrar el caso de los presuntos abusos sexuales de un antiguo profesor del colegio vizcaíno Gaztelueta a un alumno del centro, ocurridos hace ocho años, al considerar que “no han sido probados”.

La Dirección del centro, ubicado en Leioa (Bizkaia) y perteneciente al Opus Dei, ha colgado hoy un comunicado en su página web en el que hace público que ha recibido una notificación del Vaticano con dicha resolución.

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ESPANA
Opus Dei

La Congregación para la Doctrina de la Fe ha comunicado, con fecha 9 de octubre de 2015, la firme decisión del Papa Francisco de cerrar un caso de supuestos abusos por parte de un antiguo profesor del Golegio Gaztelueta, e indica que “se debe restablecer el buen nombre y la fama del acusado”.

La conclusión de esta investigación canónica -que ha durado desde comienzos de este año hasta el mes de octubre-, coincide con las realizadas anteriormente por las autoridades civiles (Más información: Cartas del colegio Gaztelueta a las familias y Comunicados del Colegio). A este propósito reproducimos el comunicado difundido por el colegio:

Leioa, 12 de octubre de 2015. La Dirección del colegio Gaztelueta, hace público que ha recibido notificación de la firme decisión del Papa Francisco de concluir el caso de los supuestos abusos por parte de un antiguo profesor de este colegio.

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SPAIN
Expatica

12th October 2015

The Vatican, citing lack of evidence, has closed a probe into a case of alleged sexual abuse of a boy at a Catholic school in Spain which had prompted intervention by Pope Francis, the school said Monday.

The Spanish daily newspaper El Mundo this month published a letter sent by the pope in December 2014 to the boy’s parents in which he said the Vatican was investigating the affair.

The couple filed a criminal complaint in 2013 for sexual assault and sexual abuse against a teacher at Gaztelueta school in Leioa, near the northern city of Bilbao.

The school is run by the conservative Roman Catholic group Opus Dei.

Their son, now an adult, said the abuse occurred in 2008 and 2009 when he was 12 and 13 years old, leaving him with emotional trauma.

The couple also sent a letter to the pope with documents they said backed their son’s accusations.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
YouTube

Published on Oct 11, 2015

Becky Ianni interview with CNN Anderson Cooper about Pope’s meeting with survivors in Philadelphia.

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SPAIN
The Local

The Vatican has closed a probe into alleged sexual abuse of a boy at a school in northern Spain which had prompted intervention by Pope Francis, the school said on Monday.

The Vatican cited lack of evidence as its reason for closing the probe.

Spanish daily newspaper El Mundo this month published a letter sent by the Pope in December 2014 to the boy’s parents in which he said the Vatican was investigating the affair.

The couple filed a criminal complaint in 2013 for sexual assault and sexual abuse against a teacher at Gaztelueta school in Leioa, near the northern city of Bilbao.

The school is run by the conservative Roman Catholic group Opus Dei.

Their son, now an adult, said the abuse occurred in 2008 and 2009 when he was 12 and 13 years old, leaving him with emotional trauma.

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ITALY
The Independent (UK)

Tom Brooks-Pollock Monday 12 October 2015

The Pope is facing calls to investigate a friar over allegations that he paid for sex with homeless men while high on poppers.

More than 100 parishioners have signed a letter appealing to Pope Francis to look into the unnamed friar, who is a senior member of the Discalced Carmelites order in Rome.

The letter also calls on Francis to reverse the transfer of another senior priest at the order’s headquarters, Father Alessandro Donati, who revealed the allegations. The unnamed friar was also transferred in the wake of the affair.

Allegations against the friar have been made by a man identified as Sergio Marsini, 54, who said he was working as a prostitute between 2003 and 2007 when the friar paid him three times for sex while high on poppers, The Times reports.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Spectator

Damian Thompson

A group of cardinals – including some of the most powerful figures in the Catholic Church – have written to Pope Francis telling him that his Synod on the Family, now meeting in Rome, has gone badly off the rails and could cause the church to collapse.

Astonishingly, they include Cardinal Péter Erdö, the ‘general relator’ of the three-week gathering of the world’s bishops, who delivered its opening address a week ago.

Their leaked letter, written as the synod started, presumably explains why a few days ago the Pope suddenly warned against ‘conspiracy‘ and reminded the cardinals that he, and only he, will decide the outcome of the synod.

This is the gravest crisis he has faced, worse than anything that happened to Benedict XVI, and he knows it.

And, talking of the Pope Emeritus, I have no doubt whatsoever that, had he been free to sign the letter, he would have done so.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors has completed its second plenary assembly, focusing on formation of candidate for priesthood and religious life, the use of forensic assessments for people accused of sex abuse crimes and the use of liturgical support materials for the pastoral care of survivors.

The Commission met in Rome from October 9th to 11th, beginning their plenary with a Mass celebrated by Pope Francis in his Santa Marta residence. Members then focused their sessions on listening to and discussing progress reports presented by the Working Groups formed in the February 2015 Plenary.

Please find below the full press statement from the Commission:

The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors gathered in Plenary Assembly, October 9-11, 2015 in Rome. It is the second time that the full Commission has gathered together.

The Plenary Assembly began with Mass with the Holy Father, Pope Francis, in Santa Marta.

Members then focused their sessions on listening to and discussing progress reports presented by the Working Groups formed in the February 2015 Plenary.

These Working Groups cover key areas of the mission that has been entrusted to the Commission by the Holy Father, namely to advise him, his collaborators and the local church on the protection of minors. The Working Groups are:

• Guidelines for the safeguarding and protection of minors;
• Healing and care for victims, survivors and their families;
• Formation of candidates to the priesthood and religious life and the education of Church leadership;
• Education of families and communities;
• Theology and spirituality;
• Canonical and civil norms.

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ROME
Daily Mail (UK)

A gay priest who was sacked by the Vatican after revealing his sexuality has rubbished claims that there is a ‘gay lobby’ trying to influence the church.

Father Krzystof Charamsa, who worked in a department of the church that promotes and protects its views on faith and morals, was fired on the same day he came out.

The Pope has made comments in the past that suggested there was a gay network in the church but Father Charamsa denied ever knowing of such a group.

However, he said he had met several gay ministers, some of which were ‘homophobes’ or hated themselves for being gay.

He told a private Italian TV channel: ‘I met homosexual priests, often isolated like me but no gay lobby.

‘I also met several fantastic homosexuals who are some of the best ministers in the Church.’

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UNITED STATES
PopeCrimes& Vatican Evils.

Paris Arrow

The movie Spotlight covers the five months leading to and culminating on the single day of January 6, 2002, when the Boston Globe published its first story on clergy abuse — and then it list all the dioceses that had clergy abuse as its ending — suggesting Boston Globe initiated exclusively the reporting on clergy sexual abuse that spread across the USA. But Los Angeles Times and others reporters from the Santa Barara Independent, the priest Tom Doyle in 1985 who wrote the initial complete report on clergy sexual abuse on minors, and Jason Berry who won journalistic awards for his reportage on clergy sexual abuse — are the true pioneers in the journalistic coverage of clergy sexual abuse. Therefore, the claim of the movie Spotlight — on behalf of Boston Globe — that it was the FIRST investigative team of reporters (akin to the two initial journalists in Nixon’s Watergate in the movie All the President’s Men ) is outrageously erroneous and false. (No surprise there as Hollywood and the Vaitcan are twin cities that “lie for a living”!)

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Gaynor Dumat-ol Daleno, gdumat-ol@guampdn.com October 12, 2015

The former Accion Hotel, worth tens of millions of dollars before an anonymous donor donated it to the Archdiocese of Agana almost a decade ago, is no longer an asset of the local Catholic church, according to a Guam law firm retained recently by Concerned Catholics of Guam Inc.

The property’s title was “absolutely conveyed in fee simple” in November of 2011, to the nonprofit Redemptoris Mater Seminary, according to a May 2015 legal opinion written by the law offices of Jacques G. Bronze.

Neocatechumenal Way

A New Jersey-based division of the Neocatechumenal Way controls the seminary, through its nonprofit, said Greg Perez, president of Concerned Catholics, a grass-roots lay organization incorporated in December of 2014.

Concerned Catholics has been calling for accountability of the actions Guam’s Catholic leadership, and has opposed the Neocatechumenal Way movement.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Candice Marcus

Some Salvation Army officers may have perceived children in institutional homes as “evil” and believed it was their duty to save them from their “vicious and criminal tendencies”, a royal commission has heard.

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

The organisation’s territorial commander of the Australian southern territory, Commissioner Floyd Tidd, is giving evidence for a second day.

On Friday, he delivered an apology to former residents of the home who were physically, sexually and emotionally abused at the homes.

One of the presiding royal commissioners, Robert Fitzgerald, asked Commissioner Tidd about the Salvation Army’s references to evil in historic documents.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Australian Associated Press
Sunday 11 October 2015

A culture of physical abuse at a Salvation Army boys’ home in Adelaide was a significant barrier to children reporting allegations of sexual abuse, a royal commission has heard.

A senior Salvation Army official, Floyd Tidd, said he could not understand why such a culture was allowed to continue at Eden Park in the Adelaide Hills.

“I can’t account for why it was allowed to flourish,” Tidd told the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse in Adelaide on Monday. “I can’t comprehend why it was allowed to continue to happen.”

Tidd agreed that physical abuse was so frequent and conducted so openly at Eden Park that it made children reluctant to come forward with allegations of sexual abuse. He agreed that it served to intimidate boys.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Candice Marcus

Supporters of victims of child sexual abuse have congregated outside the Attorney-General’s electorate office at Kilburn to highlight what they say are insensitive and offensive comments about the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

When responding to the commission’s recommendation for a national redress scheme last month, Attorney-General John Rau said the commission was a bunch of “Johnnie-come-latelies”.

“We have already dealt with a large number of people who were, for example, children in state care in the South Australian case,” he said in September.

“What this royal commission is asking us to do is to basically pick the scabs off those old wounds and start all over again.

“The royal commission are basically a bunch of Johnnie-come-latelies poking their nose into [a] space where they can be all care and no responsibility because they don’t intend paying any of the bills.”

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VATICAN CITY
Chiesa

[POST SCRIPTUM]

A spokesperson for Cardinal George Pell said that a private letter should remain private but it seems that there are errors in both the content and the list of signatories.

The Cardinal is aware that concerns remain among many of the synod fathers about the composition of the drafting committee of the final “relatio” and about the process by which it will be presented to the Synod fathers and voted upon.

And in an interview with Crux, Cardinal Wilfrid Napier “acknowledged signing a letter, but said its content was different from that presented in Magister’s report. The letter he signed, he said, was specifically about the 10-member commission preparing the final document.”

But Francis has rejected their requests en bloc. And meanwhile, the “Relatio finalis” has disappeared from the program of the synod

by Sandro Magister

ROME, October 12, 2015 – On Monday, October 5, at the beginning of work at the synod on the family, Cardinal George Pell delivered a letter to Pope Francis, signed by him and twelve other cardinals, all present in the synod hall.

The thirteen signatories occupy positions of the first rank in the Church’s hierarchy. Among them there are, in alphabetical order:

– Carlo Caffarra, archbishop of Bologna, Italy, theologian, formerly the first president of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family;
– Thomas C. Collins, archbishop of Toronto, Canada;
– Timothy M. Dolan, archbishop of New York, United States;
– Willem J. Eijk, archbishop of Utrecht, Holland;
– Péter Erdõ, archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, Hungary, president of the Council of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe and relator general of the synod underway, as also at the previous session of October 2014;
– Gerhard L. Müller, former bishop of Regensburg, Germany, since 2012 prefect of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith;
– Wilfrid Fox Napier, archbishop of Durban, South Africa, president delegate of the synod underway as also at the previous session of the synod of October 2014;
– George Pell, archbishop emeritus of Sydney, Australia, since 2014 prefect in the Vatican of the secretariat for the economy;
– Mauro Piacenza, Genoa, Italy, former prefect of the congregation for the clergy, since 2013 penitentiary major;
– Robert Sarah, former archbishop of Conakry, Guinea, since 2014 prefect of the congregation for divine worship and the discipline – Angelo Scola, archbishop of Milan, Italy;
– Jorge L. Urosa Savino, archbishop of Caracas, Venezuela.

In the letter, concise and perfectly clear, the thirteen cardinals bring to the pope’s attention the serious “concerns” of themselves and other synod fathers over the procedures of the synod, in their judgment “designed to facilitate predetermined results on important disputed questions,” and over the “Instrumentum laboris,” viewed as inadequate as a “guiding text or the foundation of a final document.”

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TEXAS
WTVR

BY JOE ST. GEORGE

TARRANT COUNTY, Tex. — Sentencing will begin Monday for the former pastor and founder of Richmond mega church The ROC who was convicted of child sexual assault in Texas.

A jury found Geronimo Aguilar, who was known has Pastor G., guilty earlier this year of sex crimes against two sisters who say he abused them starting when they were 11 and 13. They said it happened in the 90s while he was a pastor at their church there in Houston. The 13 year old said she was raped by Aguilar.

His attorneys have repeatedly said he is innocent and are vowing to appeal. But that is something WTVR CBS 6 legal analyst Todd Stone said could hurt him during sentencing.

“One of the big factors they consider is whether someone expresses remorse because that is one of the first steps to rehabilitation,” Stone said. “And in this case he really hasn’t and I think in this case that is something that is really going to count against him.”

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Mary Kenny

A few years ago, in the porch of a Catholic church in a rather posh part of London, I encountered a group of middle-class women clustered around a man in late middle age. I knew one of the women and we said hello. The group then moved away, protectively accompanying this older man.

Later, I learned that he had been a priest at a well-known Catholic boys’ school, and he had been dismissed for having improper relations with boys. The women with him were providing friendship and support while awaiting legal developments. They had respected this priest as a teacher and wanted to help.

It wasn’t the first, or the last, time I have encountered a situation where a man who is accused of child abuse – one of the most despised crimes in our societies today – has found a circle of friends to support him.

Perhaps a parallel can be drawn with the case of Jonathan King, the pop musician, who was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2001 for sexually abusing five boys between the ages of 14 and 15, in the 1980s. King has always maintained that his trial was unfair, and a group of women supported him throughout. My late sister, Ursula, was one of his firmest champions, and Jonathan King has contacted me on several occasions to express thanks for my sister’s kindness.

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CHILE
Publimetro

[A group of protestors demonstrated outsideof the cathedral in Orsorno against appointment of Bishop Juan Barros who is accused of covering up the sexual abuse of minors by priest Fernando Karadima. They also protested comments made by Pope Francis who said the people opposed to Barros were stupid and being led by leftists.The pope’s remarks were videotaped and later shown on a Chilean television station.]

Un grupo de manifestantes se aglutinó en las afueras de la Catedral de Osorno, para repudiar la designación del obispo Juan Barros, a quien acusan de encubrir los abusos sexuales de Fernando Karadima. Además, los osorninos que adhirieron a la manifestación protestaron por los dichos del Paoa Francisco, quien defendió el nombramiento.

La máxima autoridad de la Iglesia Católica declaró que la ciudad de Osorno sufría por tonta, ante las informaciones entregadas por los “zurdos”, lo que fue registrado en video y se difundió hace unos días, recordó radio Bio Bío.

Mario Vargas, de la Organización de Laicos de Osorno, movimiento que organizó la manifestación que se replicó en las distintas catedrales chilenas, comentó a la radio que la intención de la protesta fue decirle a Francisco que no aceptan sus palabras, “que somos un pueblo cristiano y que acá en el sur el cascarón se rompió desde adentro. Toda nuestra denuncia nace desde el interior de la iglesia”, afirmó.

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VATICAN CITY
Yahoo! News

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”.

“But I also met several fantastic homosexuals who are some of the best ministers in the Church,” he said in an interview due to be broadcast Sunday.

Charamsa said he wrote a letter to Pope Francis asking him to convey his spirit of openness to bishops at the synod, where Church leaders discussed marriage and family teachings.

The pontiff has in the past spoken about homosexuality and the “gay lobby”.

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ROME
America Magazine

Gerard O’Connell | Oct 10 2015

The early part of the journey was somewhat turbulent. To begin with, there was some confusion among participants about the new process that was the result of a reform approved by the pope on Sept. 7, which not only allocated far more time than in previous synods to discussion in language groups, but also limited the time each synod father could speak for in the plenary assembly to three minutes.

A certain amount of turbulence was also caused by various “conspiracy theories” that were being floated through the air here and elsewhere, alleging that the secretary general (Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri) and the special secretary of the synod (Archbishop Bruno Forte) were somehow engaged in a manipulation of the process and the elections. Cardinal Pell added to the turbulence by challenging the composition of the special commission established by Pope Francis to draft the synod’s final document. Then, 13 synod fathers complained to the pope about the process of elections to the leadership of the groups and the way the special commission was established, while some others were reported to be backing them behind the scenes. Cardinal Baldisseri clarified the process on the morning of the second day, and the captain of the plane, Pope Francis, intervened unexpectedly to calm the atmosphere by urging the 270 fathers to give no credence to the “hermeneutic of conspiracy” but, instead to trust each other and work together for the good of the church.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Telegram & Gazette

Posted Oct. 11, 2015

Growing up, Stephen Kelley idolized his big brother Bobby.

The youngest of nine kids raised in the Burncoat neighborhood, Stephen loved spending time with the sibling 19 years his senior. Bobby took him to the beach and out for ice cream. He bought him his first bike; when it was stolen, Bobby promptly bought him another. Outgoing and smart, Bobby was always there to listen.

“He was just a really good guy,” said Stephen, 56, of Holden. “He was my hero. I admired him so much.”

In 1968, Bobby Kelley became the Rev. Robert E. Kelley and would be assigned to churches in Southbridge, Leominster and Gardner. His large Irish-Catholic clan was thrilled to have a priest in the family and parishioners adored him.

Until they learned the unthinkable: The charismatic, popular Robert E. Kelley was an insatiable pedophile.

In 1990, the priest called “the Pied Piper” by a former parishioner pleaded guilty to six counts of rape of a child and served seven years in state prison. Then, again in 2003, Kelley pleaded guilty to raping two young girls and was sentenced to five to seven years. In a deposition he gave during a civil suit, he admitted that he sexually molested “50 to 100” girls while he was an associate pastor from 1976 to 1983 at St. Cecilia’s Church in Leominster.

Today, Robert Kelley is 75. In June, he was defrocked by the Vatican. Stephen Kelley said his brother is broke, broken and living in a Boston homeless shelter.

And while some may consider his fate divine retribution, Stephen said he’s angry that the Worcester diocese revoked his brother’s retirement benefits and left the elderly man adrift, with barely enough money to feed himself.

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NEW YORK
New York Post

By Isabel Vincent an
d Melissa Klein
October 11, 2015

The mistress of pastry-porn priest George Passias helped herself to $30,000 on her way out the door as the parish school principal in a sex scandal that’s rocked the Greek Orthodox church.

Ethel Bouzalas, 45, admits grabbing the cash — tuition money paid by parents at St. Spyridon Parochial School — from a school safe in a soul-baring e-mail to Bishop Andonios Paropoulos, the chancellor of the Greek Orthodox church in the United States.

The Peruvian mom of three also told the bishop how she feels “used” and “hurt” by the 67-year-old Passias, who got her pregnant, and that she suspects she’s not his first mistress.

“I am not going to dare ask if Father George has done something like this before, although it seems as if . . . he has. Why should I doubt it?” she wrote in the e-mail seen by The Post. “I’ve been left to bare [sic] the brunt of the scandal while he has safely hidden himself away. My sister says that I’ve been used and victimized for my money and that I am probably not the first victim who has fallen. I’m hurt like I’ve never been hurt.”

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IRELAND
The 42

WE’RE SITTING ON some steps, gazing out across Dublin Bay. It’s late morning and the sun glistens on the water, casting shadows.

John Leonard knows this place well. But it’s complicated. His family home is a five-minute walk away. But high up into the clouds, in the opposite direction, is the imposing spire of St Fintan’s Church. And it was there where Leonard’s childhood was destroyed, his adulthood subsequently descending into a cocktail of wild drug abuse and alcoholism.

He was nine when the prolific paedophile priest Fr. Ivan Payne first sexually abused him. It was years later when Leonard told his parents and his life became engulfed by chaos and self-sabotage.

“I was on a mission of wanting destruction”, he says.

But there was a slight issue.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Birmingham Mail

11 OCT 2015

BY JEANETTE OLDHAM

Louise Palmer says parents sided with evil Richard Davenport over her, while church offered only prayers and urged her not to go to police

Former Treasury worker Richard Davenport was jailed for 14 years last month after sickening sex attacks on a little girl in the 1980s. That little girl was his sister Louise, who today bravely waives her right to anonymity to claim that she was made an outcast by her own parents after going to the police. And she claims that she was failed by the family’s Jehovah’s Witnesses’ community, which she says had shockingly tried to hush up the abuse.

Sobbing heavily, Richard Davenport turned to his sister in the car and begged: “Please don’t tell the police – I’m not prison material.”

Louise Palmer hesitated but then tentatively agreed, showing her elder brother what he had never shown her during her childhood: kindness, compassion and protection.

Depraved Davenport had sexually abused his little sister during the 1980s when they lived in Halesowen, a manipulative monster in the midst of a strict Jehovah’s Witnesses family.

Louise kept her ordeal secret for decades after emotional blackmail and threats from her brother, but eventually went to the police following what she says was a final betrayal by her parents, who she claims chose their son and religion over her.

And she believes the Jehovah’s Witnesses wanted to hush up the abuse because of a shocking and little-known “two-witness rule”, which meant they did not alert the police when allegations were made to them. Instead, they offered only prayers for the victim.

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

PENNSYLVANIA
Lancaster Online

Louis A. Butcher Jr. | Matters of Faith

Ever since the child abuse scandals in the Roman Catholic Church a number of years ago, there has been a heightened awareness that children need to be protected even in places that already should be considered safe havens.

Now, because of the recent crimes against children by a trusted, public figure — former Penn State football coach, Jerry Sandusky — the whole issue of child protection has been brought to the forefront.

New state legislation has placed a greater emphasis on the need for nonprofit organizations and places of worship of all sizes and creeds to maintain a healthy, safe environment for all children involved in the community they create. There now must be more thorough screening and closer scrutiny of the volunteer corps that help run these organizations. While training and greater awareness is clearly essential for those serving children, Samaritan Counseling Center of Lancaster has been ahead of the curve.

In 2011 under the leadership of Linda Crockett, Samaritan Counseling Center initiated a program called SafeChurch. Samaritan’s premise, according to the explanation on their website, is that a “safe church sees itself as a sanctuary where one finds protection, support, guidance and the presence of God.” They point out that their SafeChurch Project is designed to protect children and youth from sexual abuse. Their program helps churches to “create policies and guidelines developed in alignment with (their) mission and theological understanding to create a sanctuary where all can gather in an atmosphere of trust and safety.”

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TEXAS/VIRGINIA
Richmond Times-Dispatch

By LOUIS LLOVIO Richmond Times-Dispatch

Geronimo Aguilar, the former pastor of the Richmond Outreach Center who was convicted in June of sexually assaulting two girls, goes before a Texas judge Monday morning to hear his fate.

The disgraced pastor, who has been housed at the Tarrant County Correctional Center since June 24, is facing up to life in prison.

“The punishment phase does begin on Monday at 9 a.m. CST. They will be calling witnesses, and at this time (I) think it could go into the next day,” Samantha K. Jordan, a spokeswoman for the Tarrant County prosecutor’s office, said in an email Friday. “I believe we’re asking for the maximum punishment, which would be life.”

Aguilar, 45, was convicted on seven charges: two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child, three counts of sexual assault of a child under 17, and two counts of indecency with a child.

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MISSOURI
KCUR

By CODY NEWILL

Members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests announced Saturday two more settlements against the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph related to a former priest who took lewd photos of young parishioners.

Two civil suits were settled between the diocese and three litigants Friday. Two girls and their mother were awarded $200,000 and payment for counseling services related to sexual abuse by former priest Shawn Ratigan.

The diocese has spent millions in settlement funds related to dozens of cases of sexual abuse over the last seven years, including a $10 million payout in 2008.

Robert Bates is a SNAP member, and a victim of abuse. He says the settlement should help the victims heal, but the money can only go so far.

“You can’t erase the hurt you cause to someone’s soul,” Bates said. “It goes deeper than your flesh, emotions, your intellect and your mentality. It’s a long process of healing.”

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MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

New settlement involves convicted priest
Two victims of notorious predator resolve case
But Catholic officials are fighting against a third victim
SNAP to new church head: “Stop exploiting legal technicalities”
Church lawyers still minimize young girl “up skirt” photos, group says

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims will disclose that two more cases against KC’s most notorious predator priest have settled.

They will also urge KC’s new bishop to drop “hurtful technical defenses” in a third case involving that cleric which goes to court later this month.

WHEN
Saturday, Oct. 10, 2015 at 1:00 pm

WHERE
Outside the chancery, the KC MO Catholic diocesan headquarters, 20 West 9th, in downtown KC

WHO
Two-four members of a self-help group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org) including a St. Louis man who is the organization’s long time director

WHY
Two more civil cases against the KC MO Catholic diocese have been resolved. They center on child sex crimes by a now-imprisoned, high-profile ex-priest, Shawn Ratigan. Two girls and their mother will split $200,000.

But a third similar suit is pending and faces a court hearing on October 27. Lawyers for new KC Bishop James Johnston want that case thrown out for a variety of reasons.

First, Catholic officials claim that “up skirt” photos of young girls are not “obscene” if they do not clearly show actual “sexual conduct.”

Second, while being questioned in police custody, Ratigan was caught on film smashing a chip that some believe contained illegal and inappropriate photos of young girls from his parish. Because of that, lawyers for Bishop Johnston claim that the civil suit should be rejected, claiming there’s no evidence showing that this particular girl had been photographed.

Her parents, however, actually saw Ratigan take inappropriate photos of their daughter. And SNAP says that neither Ratigan nor his church supervisors should benefit from his successful effort to destroy evidence. Bishop Johnston, SNAP contends, “can’t claim to want ‘healing’ while he exploits the same kinds of legal technicalities that Bishop Robert Finn used time and time again against victims in court.”

The hearing is set for Oct. 27 in the Western District Court of Appeals in Kansas City.

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UNITED STATES
Religion Dispatches

By Patricia Miller October 9, 2015

As the first week of the second installment of the bishops’ synod on the family draws to a close, it seems that some of the bishop participants haven’t gotten the memo from Pope Francis that they’re supposed to find ways to change the church without really changing the church.

On Monday, Hungarian Cardinal Péter Erdő, the secretary of the synod, sought to strike a preemptive blow for conservatives, who were blindsided by resurgent progressives last fall pushing for more leeway for divorced and gay Catholics. Erdő declared that it would be impossible to find a way to extend communion to divorced and remarried Catholics, as suggested by German Cardinal Walter Kasper, because they are living in sin. “It is not the failing of the first marriage but the living in a second relationship that impedes access to the Eucharist,” he said, arguing that only by agreeing to live chastely could such Catholics be readmitted to communion.

He also threw cold water on any pastoral talk of being more welcoming to LGBT couples in committed relationship, which last year’s synod praised as having “positive values”: “There is no basis for comparing or making analogies, even remotely, between homosexual unions and God’s plan for matrimony and the family.”

As John Allen reports in Crux, Erdő’s remarks prompted Italian Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli to ask “what are we doing here?” if any changes in even pastoral practice were off the table.

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INDIA
The Hindu

The Kerala State Human Rights Commission has found that sexual harassment charges levelled against M. Krishnan Nampoothiri, a priest of the Ramapuram Devaswom, were fabricated. The judicial member of the commission had ordered an investigation into the incident after the priest’s wife approached the panel.

Mr. Nampoothiri was suspended from service after charges of misbehaviour with a woman was levelled against him. The police found that the charges were false. The police report sought action against those who foisted false charges.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Herald

Saturday, October 10, 2015 P

By: M.j. Doherty

Through the film “Spotlight,” Boston will soon re-live the discovery here of clerical sexual abuse in 2001-2002. The movie opens in the wake of Pope Francis’ meeting with survivors of such abuse during his visit to Philadelphia and his promise to give careful oversight to child protection and to hold all responsible accountable.

The question remains whether, as a community of faith, a society, a world, we can articulate a new human story regarding child abuse, and how the global Catholic Church can help that happen.

The whole community of faith has been wounded — the child victims first, but also parents, families, neighborhoods, women religious, faithful pastors and bishops. Those layers of victims have all needed to be healed.

Abuse belongs to the abuser and the enabler — let that justice be served. But victims themselves know that the shadows abuse imposes, unjustly making victims complicit, often become our own, and we ourselves have to work to dissolve them. The task of the victim of abuse, psychoanalyst Mary Gail Frawley-O’Dea pointed out in 2007, is to leave off being a victim by surviving and, then, most of all, to become a person again.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC

A victim of the Bishop Peter Ball told 5 live Breakfast that he forgives him for the sexual abuse he suffered.

The Reverend Graham Sawyer, a vicar in Burnley, described Peter Ball as “a monster” but feels that “justice has been done” and he is able to forgive him.

“Not only do I forgive Peter Ball but I forgive him from my heart. I refuse to become part of this cycle of unpleasantness and nastiness. The only response is one of forgiveness and love”.

Reverend Sawyer received a handwritten letter from the Archbishop of Canterbury apologising unreservedly for the abuse he endured.

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TEXAS
Herald Banner

By Gary E. Lindsley

A former Greenville and Rockwall minister is no longer allowed on the Greenville Christian School campus.

Billy Bob Burge is facing a multi-million dollar lawsuit alleging he sexually abused a teenager at First Baptist Church of Rockwall in the 1990s.

He resigned in late September as connect minister at Grace Community Church, according to Lead Pastor Adam Brind.

The allegations led to Greenville Christian School officials announcing Burge was no longer allowed on the school’s campus and a letter was sent to parents on Sept. 28.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph and Argus

Jenny Loweth, T&A Reporter / Friday 9 October 2015

A PAEDOPHILE former church bus driver has been jailed for 11 years for a “campaign of sexual abuse” against six young girls spanning 18 years.

Tony Mitchell raped a child of 11, telling police: “She liked me doing that,” and molested five others, Bradford Crown Court was told.

Mitchell, 45, of Idlethorp Way, Thorpe Edge, Bradford, wept in the dock and held his hands as if clasped in prayer when he was sentenced yesterday.

He pleaded guilty to nine offences against six girls, aged between seven and 13.

Mitchell, who used to own a second hand shop in Bradford, began working as a volunteer bus driver for the Church on the Way in Bradford Road, Idle, in 2012.

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OREGON
Herald and News

By STEPHEN FLOYD H&N Staff Reporter Oct 9, 2015

A local pastor has been arrested on multiple sex abuse charges after allegedly assaulting a member of his congregation in February, according to authorities.

Larry Marshall Murrell, 62, was arrested Wednesday after allegedly forcing “deviate sexual intercourse” Feb. 6 on a female victim. He is facing charges of second-degree sexual abuse and third-degree sexual abuse (two counts).

Because the abuse involved a church member, the District Attorney’s Office is seeking enhancement factors including vulnerability of the victim and violation of public trust, to be considered at sentencing.

Murrell has served for a number of years as reverend of the House of Prayer for All Nations church on Vine St.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

JULIA TERRUSO, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
LAST UPDATED: Friday, October 9, 2015

Archbishop Charles J. Chaput was by all accounts the consummate host for Pope Francis during the Holy Father’s weekend in Philadelphia last month, smiling from the back of the popemobile as it wound around the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in a historic visit meticulously planned over more than a year.

And since Chaput came to Philadelphia from the Rockies four years ago, he has taken anything but a backseat – speaking out in defense of traditional church teachings to become one of the most formidable prelates in the Roman Catholic Church.

So naturally, almost as soon as the American Airlines jet lifted off to return Pope Francis to Rome, speculation started over whether Chaput, 71, might be in line for cardinal – a post now held by only nine men in the nation.

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UNITED STATES
Variety

James Rainey
Senior Film Reporter
@RaineyTime

It’s been nearly 40 years since “All the President’s Men” turned two young reporters into stars, inspired a generation of young people to become journalists and conferred on the Washington Post Editor Ben Bradlee a national renown.

Now, the best journalism movie since Alan J. Pakula’s classic is coming to theaters and fans of early screenings are hoping “Spotlight,” opening November 6 from Open Road Films, gives a similar boost to journalists and their profession. It could also cement Marty Baron as the 21st century reinvention of Bradlee.

“Spotlight” takes audiences inside the Boston Globe’s 2002 investigation into how that city’s Catholic hierarchy ignored and even enabled priests who sexually abused children. Audiences have been impressed and awards buzz is rising — for the film, director Tom McCarthy and an ensemble cast that includes Mark Ruffalo and Michael Keaton.

But nowhere is early excitement greater than in the hearts and minds of newspaper people, who see in “Spotlight” an authentic and uplifting movie about a business that has been battered by disappearing ad revenue and an epochal shift of readers to alternative platforms.

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CHILE
La Nacion

Carlos Ernesto Sanchez

[The pope’s words are not good news. The whole litter of bishops formed by Karadima must step aside. Ezzatti needs to leave the Santiago archdiocese and Barros needs to leave Osorno as soon as possible. A video tape where the pope backed Barros indicates he is erratic and says one thing one day and something else on another day, according to Carlos Ernesto Sanchez.]

Hoy es urgente que toda la camada de obispos formados por Karadima dé un paso al costado. Es necesario que Ezzatti deje el Arzobispado de Santiago, y que Barros abandone Osorno lo antes posible.

Los últimos hechos, en los cuales la Iglesia Católica se ha visto involucrada, nos dan cuenta que la buena noticia que nos habla el Evangelio, se ha trasformado en mala noticia, que escandaliza, duele, desconcierta. El video que muestra al Papa Francisco defendiendo a Juan Barros, obispo de Osorno cuestionado por su silencio ante los vejámenes cometido en contra de jóvenes, no sólo repugna, sino que deja en evidencia a un Pontífice errático, que hoy dice una cosa y mañana otra.

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NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

By Mark Mueller | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on October 09, 2015

The Archdiocese of Newark knew three years ago that one of its priests was “milking” an elderly parishioner for tens of thousands of dollars and did not take action, allowing him to collect even more money from others for his personal use, a whistleblower clergyman contends.

The Rev. Alex Orozco, 37, allegedly accepted more than $250,000 in cash and goods from parishioners of St. Rose of Lima Church in Short Hills between the fall of 2012 and October 2014, when he transferred to a new post in Bergen County.

That largesse — including checks made out to cash, credit card payments, car purchases and at least $25,000 for a vacation home Orozco acknowledges he never bought — is the subject of an investigation by the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, NJ Advance Media reported last week.

Since then, one of Orozco’s fellow clergymen said he personally reported Orozco’s behavior to the archdiocese late in 2012, speaking first to the director of priest personnel and then to the vicar general, the second-in-command to Archbishop John J. Myers. The priest said he doesn’t know if either alerted Myers.

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MISSOURI
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Document: Sexual abuse lawsuit against Chaminade

By Robert Patrick

CLAYTON • The Marianists have agreed to pay $300,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a man who claimed he was sexually abused decades ago by a teacher at Chaminade College Preparatory School, the man’s lawyers said Friday.

The lawsuit claimed that Brother Louis Meinhardt sexually abused the plaintiff, then a boy, during a typing tutoring session. It also said that the Marianists at Chaminade knew of Meinhardt’s reputation.

In a prepared statement, the man, identified only as John Doe 116, called officials’ failure to stop Meinhardt “both appalling and unacceptable.” Doe said that the first time Meinhardt was suspected of sexual abuse, it should have been reported to police.

“Had the law been followed, I am convinced Meinhardt may not have even been there to abuse me, because he had likely already been sexually abusing kids at Chaminade for 13 years. I now pray for all the kids Meinhardt sexually abused before and after he sexually abused me,” he said.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Lancaster Online

LINDA CROCKETT | SPECIAL TO LNP

A major focus of Samaritan Counseling Center is preventing child sexual abuse. Our therapists see the devastation it causes, the ripple effect often extending into midlife. Samaritan SafeChurch is a project we started to educate faith communities about sexual abuse prevention.

As director of Samaritan’s Clergy & Congregation Care, I started SafeChurch in 2011 because I know that people of faith find it unacceptable that 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys are sexually abused before age 18.

Many congregations are ready to do the hard work needed to create safety for children and bring healing to survivors, and we have grown rapidly into a national ecumenical training program.

Many parishioners feel ashamed of being in the news for institutional failure to protect children. They tell us if they are to be in the news at all, they want it to be for their fierce commitment to protecting children from sexual harm. They want their churches and communities to be safe places. They care about justice and healing for survivors, and accountability for offenders.

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CALIFORNIA
My News LA

POSTED BY DEBBIE L. SKLAR ON OCTOBER 9, 2015

Comparing the power wielded by Bill Cosby with that of an order of Catholic priests, a member of Survivors Networks of those Abused by Priests said Friday her group is offering support to women allegedly abused by the comedian.

“We know there’s many, many of them,” Esther Miller said outside the County Courthouse in downtown Los Angeles.

The entertainment industry, like the Catholic and Mormon churches, yields “power, dominion and control over someone’s mind, body and soul,” Miller said.

Cosby, 78, was scheduled to appear for a deposition today in a lawsuit filed by Judy Huth, who claims he sexually assaulted her at the Playboy Mansion in 1974, when she was 15 years old. Cosby has denied any wrongdoing.

The location of the deposition has not been made public.

Miller said Jesuit priests were able to use their strong position within the Catholic church to molest young parishioners, and said Cosby similarly has “influence, power and charm, just like the Jesuits.”

Miller, holding signs stating SNAP’s support for Cosby’s alleged victims, said many are too ashamed to go public about their experiences with the comedian.

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TEXAS
WRIC

[with video]

By Kerri O’Brien
Published: October 9, 2015

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Sentencing begins Monday for a former Richmond mega church Pastor convicted of child sex assault.

8News was first to break the allegations of child sex abuse on April 28, 2013 during a protest outside of the former ROC Church on Midlothian Turnpike.

Former Richmond Outreach Center Church Pastor Geronimo Aguilar was found guilty in June of seven felony counts of sexually assaulting two girls back in the 1990s. Sentencing will begin Monday, October 12 in a Fort Worth, Texas courtroom. It’s expected to take two days.

Prosecutors plan to call eight to 10 witnesses to the stand. There’s been no word on how many witnesses Aguilar’s attorneys plan to have testify.

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IRELAND
BBC News

A geophysical survey has been carried out on the site of a former mother and baby home in County Galway.

It is believed nearly 800 children are buried in the grounds of what was once a mother and baby home run by nuns in Tuam.

A child died nearly every two weeks between the mid-1920s and 1960s.

The Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes confirmed the survey was taking place.

It was being conducted over the surface of the ground and will be done with the consent of Galway County Council, who are the owners of the Dublin Road housing estate site.

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IRELAND
RTE News

The Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes has confirmed that a geophysical survey is being carried out on the site of the graveyard at the Dublin Road Housing Estate, Tuam, Co. Galway.

The survey will be conducted with the consent of Galway County Council, who are the owners of the site.

The survey will involve the use of non-invasive methods.

It will be conducted over the surface of the ground inside the current boundaries of the graveyard. The sub-surface of the site will not be disturbed.

The purpose of the survey is to detect the presence of possible sub-surface anomalies

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UNITED STATES
PopeCrimes& Vatican Evils.

Paris Arrow

Hip Hip Hooray! Hip Hip Hooray! Pope Francis did NOT win Nobel Peace Prize! A defeat for the Vatican Mammon Evil Beast (a.k.a. Opus Dei Beast PR Deceits Team) is a triumph for humanity for the good of children, women and the poor!

The Nobel Peace Prize 2015 was awarded to National Dialogue Quartet “for its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011”.

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MISSOURI
Missourian

JIM SALTER/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ST. LOUIS — A Roman Catholic religious order has agreed to pay $300,000 to a former student at a suburban St. Louis high school to settle claims that a teacher at the school sexually abused him.

The settlement was announced Friday by Ken Chackes, the attorney for a former student at Chaminade, a prep school in Creve Coeur sponsored by the Marianist Province of the United States.

A spokeswoman for the Marianists did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

The former student who attended Chaminade in the late 1960s and early 1970s alleged in a 2012 lawsuit that he was sexually abused by Brother Louis Meinhardt during a typing tutoring session. The plaintiff said he repressed the memories until a visit to the school in 2011 or 2012 caused them to resurface.

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ROME
Catholic Culture

At the Synod of Bishops, a clear common theme emerged from the reports of small groups that have been discussing the Synod’s working document: virtually every group said that the instrumentum laboris was overly preoccupied with the problems of marriage and family life, and did not provide enough encouragement and guidance for the faithful who are committed to living out their vocations in the family.

After an opening discussion in which prelates had the opportunity to speak briefly to the entire assembly, the Synod broke up into 13 small groups for more intense discussion. These groups, divided by language (4 using English, 3 Spanish, 3 French, 2 Italian, and 1 German) delivered their initial reports on Friday, October 9.

The most prominent theme running through the different reports was the need for a more positive approach to Christian marriage. There were also several complaints that the instrumentum laboris reflected the concerns of Catholics in the Western world– particularly Europe and the US– without giving adequate attention to Catholic families elsewhere.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Culture

By Dr. Jeff Mirus Oct 09, 2015

Pope Francis has done more than any of his predecessors to seek to punish those guilty of clerical sexual abuse. Even so, when he defends a cleric who has been accused, he is in a no-win situation. That’s because huge numbers of people form their positions on individual cases of sexual abuse without any significant knowledge of the facts.

Clearly it is foolish to reflexively deny claims of clerical sexual abuse by victims. Too many have been proved true. But it is just as foolish to reflexively believe such claims. We live in an age when people revel in victim status, confessing to all kinds of things on radio talk shows, making money from the media for “telling their story”, and often receiving significant cash settlements from the Church—not infrequently without going to trial.

It often takes far too long a time to recognize that someone has been abused, and to repair as much of the damage as possible. But those who are falsely accused are also thrust into a purgatory that may never end.

Pope Francis has deliberately created a sexual abuse commission which consists partly of victims and long-time victim-advocates. That’s probably a good thing. But is very hard to find victims and long-time advocates who do not instinctively believe that every allegation against a cleric is true. This means that even the Pope cannot conclude that a bishop or a priest is innocent in a particular case without taking flak from his own commission.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune

Manya Brachear Pashman
Chicago Tribune

The former Chicago bishop of the Orthodox Church in America who was asked to retire amid allegations of sexual misconduct two years ago has sued church leaders, claiming they breached that retirement contract.

The lawsuit against Metropolitan Tikhon, primate of the Orthodox Church in America, and Detroit Archbishop Nathaniel, leader of the Romanian Orthodox Episcopate, was filed in Cook County Circuit Court last month. Both defendants were served during the national Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in Chicago.

Bishop Matthias alleges that church leaders violated the terms of his retirement and a recent employment agreement when they terminated a parish assignment in response to complaints from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP.

“This is a case about broken promises and the repeated failure to honor one’s legal obligations,” the suit says. “The legal questions involved are not complex. Indeed, they require only a straightforward application of civil law.”

Officials with the Orthodox Church in America declined to comment, citing a church policy “to not comment on any active or potential legal activities.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Sandra Laville
Friday 9 October 2015

The partner of a man who killed himself after being abused by a Church of England bishop is calling for the decision not to prosecute him 22 years ago to be investigated by the Goddard inquiry into institutional child sex abuse.

Neil Todd, the original complainant against Bishop Peter Ball in the 1990s, took his own life aged 38 after a new police investigation into Ball began in 2012.

Todd’s partner Marc Hawley, who lives in Australia, said on Friday that the Ball case must be investigated in public hearings to be run by a forthcoming inquiry led by Dame Lowell Goddard.

Hawley said: “Neil, my soul partner of 20 years, was taken from me at a far too early an age due to the heinous crimes committed against him by a man called Peter Ball, who hid behind his religious position to acquire young men and boys for his own sexual gratification.”

Hawley questioned the jail sentence handed down to 83-year-old Ball on Wednesday – two years and eight months – for 15 years of sexual exploitation, abuse and grooming of young men who came into his orbit while he was the bishop of Lewes.

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CALIFORNIA
Orange County Register

By TERI SFORZA / STAFF WRITER

The Catholic Diocese of Orange has transferred ownership of properties worth some $100 million to individual churches over recent years.

Church officials say the move aligns the laws of God’s church with the laws of man, but critics denounce it as an attempt to insulate the diocese from big payouts if it’s sued.

Dozens of parcels have changed hands since 2009, with the bulk transferred in 2012. Valuable properties that once belonged to the diocese and now belong to the churches include the Mission Basilica San Juan Capistrano, St. Joseph in Santa Ana, Saints Simon and Jude in Huntington Beach and more than a dozen others throughout the county.

“More than five years ago, the Diocese of Orange underwent a process to bring the civil organization of its parishes into alignment with their canonical status,” diocese spokesman Ryan Lilyengren said. “This legal change made the civil structure more congruent with the established canonical status of our parishes.”

Canon law is a religious legal code that governs the Catholic Church, separate from civil law.

No money changed hands between the diocese and the churches as part of the transfers, according to deed records filed with the county.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Argus

Joel Adams, Reporter Friday 9 October 2015

CAMPAIGNERS have questioned the church’s ability to investigate itself and have called for a judicial inquiry into clerical sexual abuse in Sussex.

It follows the sentencing of Peter Ball, the former Bishop of Lewes, who was given 32 months on Wednesday for indecent assault and misconduct in a public office.

The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has opened an investigation into how the Church dealt with the case.

But campaigners have called for another independent inquiry to find out why it took so long to bring him to justice.

Graham Sawyer, who lived in Eastbourne in his teens when he was the victim of indecent assault by Ball, said: “A judicial investigation would be welcome because then one could be sure it would be thorough and honest.

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

TEXAS
KFOX

[with video]

EL PASO, Texas – A pastor at an El Paso church was arrested Wednesday amid accusations that he sexually assaulted a victim through a “religious ritual,” police said.

Noel Jimenez, 69, is a pastor at Iglesia Alabanza y Adoracion at 8485 Roseway Drive in the Lower Valley.

Police said the victim was emotionally dependent on Jimenez as a clergyman and Jimenez convinced the victim the act was a “true religious ritual.”

A neighbor who didn’t want to be identified told CBS4 it’s scary to know Jimenez is capable of a sex crime.

“You don’t know who your neighbors are whether you’ve lived here a long time or not. I haven’t and I’m sure a lot of these people probably don’t even know,” The woman said.

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TEXAS
KVIA

EL PASO –
A local pastor accused of sexual assault convinced his accuser it was a “true religious ritual,” police said.

Noel Jimenez, 69, is the pastor of Iglesia Alabanza y Adoracion church at 8485 Roseway Dr in El Paso’s Lower Valley. Police said he was approached by a woman who was emotionally dependent on him.

According to court documents, the woman told investigators she was inside his office when he spoke of “biblical scripture” and advised her that she was “spiritually stagnant.” The woman said she was dependent on Jimenez because he was clergy and because of his authority and professional character as a spiritual adviser.

The police report states Jimenez offered the woman “anointment to regain her purity.” During the alleged encounter, which the woman believed was a true religious ritual, Jimenez allegedly fondled her.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 9 October 2015 (VIS) – The Holy Father has appointed Msgr. Piero Delbosco as bishop of Cuneo and Fossano (area 1,566, population 120,500, Catholics 108,900, priests 118, permanent deacons 5, religious 291), Italy. The bishop-elect was born in Poirino, Italy in 1955 and was ordained a priest in 1980. He has served in a number of roles in the archdiocese of Turin, Italy, including parish vicar, parish priest, episcopal vicar, pro-vicar general and moderator of the curia, delegate for the permanent diaconate and preparation for the diaconate, and member of the presbyteral council.

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UNITED STATES
National Survivor Advocates Coalition

EDITORIAL

Pope Francis, of all people, cannot allow the issue of the cover up of sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church to become a matter of a left and right political prism.

Or will he?

Neither can his commission on sexual abuse.

Or will they?

Pope Francis, who in a myriad of other situations, is a rise above the usual cleavages of power man, has chosen to defend the appointment of Chilean Bishop Juan Barros by defining the opposition to the appointment as falling into a politically categorized sphere with the intent of discrediting the opposition.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

Sean O’Neill Chief Reporter

The Goddard inquiry into child sexual abuse must look at the case of Church of England bishop Peter Ball, the partner of one of the clergyman’s victims who committed suicide said today.

Marc Hawley said that Neil Todd, his partner of 20 years, took his life in 2012 as a result of the “heinous crimes” perpetrated against him by Ball more than 20 years ago.

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CHILE
Publimetro

[Juan Carlos Claret, a lay member of a group opposed to Bishop Juan Barros said “Ee are now seeing the true face of Francis and demand an explanation.”

Juan Carlos Claret, miembro de un grupo laico osornino, aseguró que “ahora estamos viendo el verdadero rostro de Francisco y exigimos una explicación”.

“Acusaciones de zurdos”. Este fue una de los dichos -emitidos por el Papa Francisco- que sumaron otro controversial capítulo a la misión pastoral que cumple actualmente el obispo Juan Barros, acusado de encubrir los hechos cometidos por el sacerdote y ex párroco de la iglesia de El Bosque, Fernando Karadima.

El turno de comentar el episodio, esta vez, fue del tradicional New York Times, quien a través de una columna criticó duramente las aseveraciones realizadas por el Sumo Pontífice a un grupo de fieles chilenos durante una visita a El Vaticano, conversación que fue registrada en video.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The JC

By Simon Rocker, October 8, 2015

A former teacher at a Jewish boarding school went on trial this week accused of grooming vulnerable young pupils for sexual abuse.

Trevor Bolton, 78, from Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, pleaded not guilty to 25 counts of indecency and sexual assault involving eight boys at Carmel College under the age of 16 between 1968 until his departure from the school in 1988.

Prosecuting at Oxford Crown Court, Simon Wilshire said that Mr Bolton would “systematically identify and then target boarding pupils who were particularly vulnerable, be it through homesickness or bullying”.

He would win their trust by showing affection and providing emotional support before “gradually grooming” them to perform sex acts on him as well as assaulting them.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Eagle-Tribune

By Mike LaBella mlabella@eagletribune.com

HAVERHILL — Standing a few dozen feet from where a 5-year-old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted by a former priest, Robert Hoatson told her story.

As he stood on the sidewalk outside All Saints Church on Thursday morning, Hoatson, co-founder and president of Road to Recovery Inc., said the victim is now 21 and has decided to come forward and file a civil lawsuit because she cannot live with the emotional pain caused by the assaults.

The suit claims some of the assaults on her by former All Saints priest Kelvin Iguabita happened in the basement of the church, which Hoatson stood in front of during his press conference on Thursday. Other assaults by Iguabita on the girl happened in the rectory behind the church, according to the suit.

Minutes after Thursday’s press conference, the Rev. Timothy Kearney, pastor of All Saints, who was in the church sacristy preparing to oversee a funeral, told an Eagle-Tribune reporter that All Saints and the larger Catholic church is saddened by the stories of sexual assault victims. The church continues to pray for them and their families, he said.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Leigh Day

United Kingdom October 8 2015

Andrew Lord from the abuse team at Leigh Day asks whether we can have faith in the Church of England investigating its own failures which many believe led to the abuse of children

Earlier this week the Archbishop of Canterbury commissioned an independent review of the Church’s own handling of allegations of sexual abuse against Peter Ball, former Bishop of both Lewes and Gloucester.

But with such public interest in understanding the true extent of the ‘cover up’ the review will be charged with investigating, can or should the Church of England be charged with investigating its own failures in tackling sexual abuse?

Bishop Ball is beginning a 32-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to two counts of indecent assaults on two complainants in their late teenage years, and also misconduct in public office relating to abuse of 16 more teenagers and young men between 1977 and 1992.

He stood accused of manipulating the complainants, who were either considering future ministerial positions or exploring their spirituality, into engaging in sexual acts by informing them he needed to test their commitment.

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TEXAS
NBC DFW

A former Garland youth minister accused of persuading a 13-year-old girl in his youth group to have a sexual relationship with him has been sentenced to 22 years in federal prison.

Thirty-eight-year-old Derek Hutter was sentenced Wednesday. He had pleaded guilty to enticing a minor.

The victim’s parents contacted police in October 2014 after they say Hutter, who was a pastor at South Garland Baptist Church, emailed their daughter and asked for sexually explicit photographs. Police say Hutter had several explicit photographs of the victim on his phone.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, October 8, 2015

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

We hope the esteemed Nobel committee does not award the Nobel Peace Prize to Pope Francis.

He’s made strides in improving church governance, morale and finances. He speaks often about the poor and seems more humble and less judgmental than his predecessor.

Still, he has done almost nothing to protect kids, expose predators, punish enablers, and deter future child sex crimes and cover ups.

[SNAP]

And it would be very ironic were the Pope to win the Nobel Peace Prize a year after two United Nations panels harshly criticized his institution for continuing cover ups of sexual violence by clergy. What other “head of state” who has been cited for non-compliance with United Nations treaties on torture and children’s rights is up for consideration?

Francis made a few well-orchestrated “feel good” gestures about the church’s on-going abuse and cover up crisis. Like his predecessors, he’s belatedly taken timid action against a high profile child molesting cleric. (Francis has disciplined Archbishop Josef Wesolowski, much like Benedict disciplined Fr. Maciel.)

Like his predecessors, he’s belatedly taken timid and vague action against a controversial bishop.

Like his predecessors, he has apologized for abuse and met with victims. But like his predecessors, he’s also done very little, if anything to make a single child safer, preferring instead to use words rather than deeds and symbolism rather than substance.

Unlike his predecessors, he’s slowly setting up an abuse commission, but to us, that seems like a paltry public relations move rather than a meaningful reform move. He needs no panel to guide him. He knows that every Catholic official who commits or conceals child sex crimes should be turned over to law enforcement and be disciplined harshly by the Vatican. But he refuses to take decisive action that will really make a difference, preferring instead soothing words that won’t really make a difference.

It may simply be safer and wiser for this esteemed panel to award this prestigious prize toward the end of an individual’s leadership, rather than at or near the beginning.

At best, giving such an award to Francis now would be premature. He’s said some good things. But on children’s safety, his words don’t match his deeds. And increasingly, he’s saying bad things on abuse and cover up. (See yesterdays New York Times story about Chilean Bishop Juan Barros and Francis’ continued defense of him and Francis’ insulting and hurtful remarks about Catholics and victims who oppose Barros’ promotion.)

Many hope that Franrcis’ repeated abuse-related promises and gestures will eventually result in some concrete progress. But the most compelling issue for us – and for millions – is that he has yet to really act on the problem that demands the most action from him, the ongoing clergy sexual abuse and cover up crisis.

For decades, now it has been devastating children and families around the globe. Thousands of predatory priests and complicit bishops remain free, in office, and face few or any consequences. And children worldwide remain at risk. For this, he should be considered for a Nobel Prize? We respectfully disagree.

Roughly one in three or four girls and one in six or seven boys are sexually assaulted.

Historically, adults do a better job of looking out for each other than adults do looking out for kids. Many adults can protect themselves from the ravages of war but few kids can protect themselves from the ravages of predators. So we hope that future Nobel Peace Prize winners will be individuals or groups that have impressive achievements in keeping children safe from child molesters.

Francis will have earned a Nobel Prize when he has done everything in his power to protect children. We hope he starts to earn it very soon.

And if Francis does win, it will bring joy to millions of Catholics while bringing pain to millions of other Catholics, to say nothing of the deep pain it will bring to tens or hundreds of thousands of deeply wounded and still struggling adults who were sexually violated as children by Catholic clerics and betrayed again as adults by Catholic officials when they sought to expose predators and protect kids.

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MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

New bishop should act on two accused clerics
Group says it’s willing to meet with new prelate
But only on one condition: “Take prevention steps 1st”
SNAP to Johnston: “That will be “a sign of good faith”
Victims want warnings about priests who now live elsewhere

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims will

–challenge the new head of the Kansas City MO (KC) Catholic diocese to warn others about three accused clerics,
–offer to meet with him, but ONLY if he takes “tangible prevention steps first,” and
–warn KC citizens and Catholics against complacency just because Bishop Robert Finn is gone.

They will also try to hand deliver a letter outlining their concerns to the new bishop.

WHEN
Friday, Oct. 9, 2015 at 1:00 pm

WHERE
Outside the chancery, the KC MO Catholic archdiocesan headquarters 20 West 9th in downtown KC

WHO
Two-three-four members of a self-help group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org) including a S. Louis man who is the organization’s long time director.

WHY
1. At least two credibly accused priests who molested in Kansas City MO now live or work out-of-state, unsupervised, among unsuspecting families. SNAP wants the new head of the diocese, Bishop James Johnston, to warn others about them and disclose more information about the allegations against them.

This is the first time SNAP is reaching out to Johnston, who was promoted three weeks ago.

[KCTV]

This action is especially warranted, SNAP says, in light of Pope Francis’ recent promises 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.”

The accused clerics are

–-Bishop Joseph Hart of Wyoming who, as a priest in KC, molested at least six boys. (They have sued and those suits have settled. The most recent one was filed in 2011.)

[BishopAccountability.org]

–Fr. Thomas Cronin of Nevada, who is involved with a homeless women’s shelter despite a civil lawsuit in KC (now settled) that charges him with sexually violating a young woman.

[BishopAccountability.org]

SNAP believes that Johnston should take immediate steps to alert police, prosecutors, parishioners, parents and the public about Cronin and Hart.

“These two predator priests could be assaulting kids and young people out west today,” said David Clohessy of SNAP. “They could be visiting Kansas City, and hurting kids and young people, here this weekend. With real outreach by Bishop Johnston, Cronin and Hart might even be prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned, sparing others decades of devastating pain.”

2. In light of Francis’ pledges, SNAP is challenging Johnston to “avoid symbolism, gestures, apologies and promises,” and instead “take proven steps to safeguard the vulnerable.” If he does, the group may be willing to meet with him, “but not until he shows good faith by taking practical steps to protect the vulnerable.”

For more than a decade, SNAP leaders met with bishops, usually after repeatedly pressuring prelates to sit down with them. But over the past 13 years, the group has rarely met with Catholic officials, because SNAP has found such meetings to be “at best a waste of time and at worst a public relations maneuver by bishops to give parishioners and the public the misguided impression that reform is happening.”

“Catholic officials claim that Bishop Finn’s resignation is intended to bring healing to parishioners and victims,” said Michael Sandridge of SNAP. “But wounded adults can heal themselves, with or without action by bishops. Innocent kids and vulnerable adults, however, cannot protect themselves from predators without firm action by Johnston. That’s why prevention should be Johnston’s top priority.”

Johnston should put announcements in every parish bulletin and on every church website, begging those who saw, suspected or suffered crimes by Cronin or Hart to step forward and call police, SNAP says.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

A former teacher at a Catholic school on the New South Wales north coast has been sentenced to 10 years in jail for sexually and physically abusing boys in his care.

Richard O’Connor was a dormitory master at the St John’s College in Woodlawn, just outside Lismore, during the 1980s.

An investigation into his activities began in April last year.

The 75-year-old pleaded guilty to more than 40 charges of physically and sexually assaulting 12 boys between the ages of 12 and 16 during the 1980s.

A district court judge today described his actions as a gross breach of trust.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Candice Marcus

A senior Salvation Army officer punched a young boy in the head when the child told him he had been sexually abused, a royal commission in Adelaide has heard.

David Reece, now 62 years old, told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse of the constant physical, emotional and sexual abuse he endured at the Box Hill Boys’ Home in Victoria home in the 1960s.

He said he tried on a few occasions to report the abuse to senior officers and they either punished him, disbelieved him or became violent.

“When I reported the abuse to Captain Swift he punched me in the head,” Mr Reece told the commission.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Candice Marcus

A Salvation Army commander has apologised to victims of sexual, physical and emotional abuse while in the care of the organisation last century.

Commissioner Floyd Tidd, Southern Territory Commander, was called to give evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse held in Adelaide this week.

The commission is examining occurrences of violent child sex abuse at Salvation Army-run children’s homes in South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia.

Commissioner Tidd began by reading an apology to the survivors, their families and the Australian community.

“Since coming to Australia a little over two years ago, a large part of my time I’ve spent trying to understand how so many children came to be abused in our homes over so many years, and then working to ensure that no child will ever be abused again in the Salvation Army’s care,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

BY TIM DORNIN AAP OCTOBER 09, 2015

THE Salvation Army has pledged to review all compensation payments made to victims of sexual and physical abuse after apologising for the treatment of children taken into its care across three states.

FLOYD Tidd says the abuse that continued over many years constitutes the “darkest chapter” in the history of the Salvation Army and will forever be a source of shame.

He says he has been moved and distressed by stories from survivors detailed at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

“Each of you were blameless, all of you were just children. You had a right to feel safe,” he said during his evidence in Adelaide on Friday.

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OKLAHOMA
KFOR

OKLAHOMA CITY – An Oklahoma City man has been arrested after allegedly claiming to have sexually abused up to 25 children at church.

Deputies with the Canadian County Sheriff’s Office arrested 26-year-old Robert Dean Painter after he allegedly admitted to sexually abusing up to 25 children at church and collecting child pornography.

The National Center of Missing and Exploited Children got a hold of the emails and forwarded the information to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.

The sheriff’s office was contacted and they immediately took him into custody.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

A blogger who publically accused a teacher of sexually abusing him when they were both high school students said he feels “no guilt” after the Brisbane Grammar educator killed himself days after the claims were aired.

Greg Masters took his life yesterday, two days after political blogger Brendan Sheehan used his ‘It’s Not Normal Is It’ website to accuse Mr Masters of molesting him when he was a 14-year-old student at St Paul’s School at Bald Hills and Mr Masters was a 17-year-old student, the Courier Mail reports

Mr Sheehan called Mr Masters a “paedophilic predator who pretended to be my pal, but was really friend to no-one but the undertow, and took innocents like me in, and wouldn’t let go”.

Mr Sheehan said he was not driven by enmity and only decided to air his claims publicly after he first approached Mr Masters privately two years ago and received a response “laced with vitriol, malice and denial”.

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UNITED STATES
The Economist

BILL COSBY, the 78-year-old entertainer, has been accused of rape by dozens of women. On October 9th, he will give a deposition in a lawsuit brought by Judy Huth, now in her 50s, who says the comedian assaulted her at the Playboy mansion when she was fifteen years old. But this is only the second time Mr Cosby has faced civil litigation for as many as 40 episodes of alleged sexual abuse, and he has never been charged with a crime.

How has Mr Cosby largely managed to stay out of court? The alleged violations in question all occurred years ago, and many states’ statutes of limitations impose limits on how long a person may be held legally accountable for an illicit act. In Colorado and a few other states, there is a 10-year cap on prosecuting people for sexual assault. In Arkansas, the limit is six years; it is 20 years in Ohio. The patchwork grows more complex when considering whether the rape was first-degree, or second or third, and when adding the factor of age. In Oregon, the statute of limitations for rape and sexual abuse is six years, but in cases involving minors, it runs until the accuser turns 30 or within 12 years after the offence is reported to the police, whichever comes sooner. But there is no national norm for a statute of limitations for rape, as there is for the crime of murder.

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COLOMBIA
7 News

Bogota (AFP) – Colombia’s Supreme Court has ruled that the Catholic Church must compensate two victims of a priest convicted of sexual abuse of minors.

The court ruled on Thursday that the Church must pay $22,300 (64 million Colombian pesos) to the victims, now aged 15 and 16, as well as $13,200 to their parents, as well as $5,600 to each of their siblings.

The Diocese of Libano-Honda, in Colombia’s northern Tolima department, had filed a petition in 2011 against a ruling ordering them to compensate the victims of convicted priest Luis Enrique Padua.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Northern Echo

Bruce Unwin, Chief Reporter (Durham) / Thursday 8 October 2015

A FORMER senior clergyman in the North-East has denied charges of historic indecency relating to two male teenagers.

George Granville Gibson, a former Archdeacon of Auckland, in County Durham, is to stand trial in the New Year on eight counts arising from complaints made by the alleged victims, over incidents said to date from the late 1970s and early 1980s.

The retired cleric, whose posts with the Church of England included heading several parishes across the region, before serving as Archdeacon of Auckland, one of the leading five posts with the Diocese of Durham, between 1993 and 2001.

More recently, he served as an acting pastor at St James the Great Church, in Darlington.

He is accused of sexually assaulting a male in his late teens on at least four occasions, in 1977 and 1978.

Further similar offences are said to have been committed on a boy aged under 16, between late 1979 and 1983.

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COLOMBIA
Metro News (Canada)

By: Libardo Cardona The Associated Press Published on Wed Oct 07 2015

BOGOTA — Colombia’s Supreme Court has ordered a Roman Catholic diocese to pay about $220,000 to the families of two children molested by a priest. It would be the first time the church has paid a financial penalty in Colombia for abuse committed by one of its priests.

The priest, Luis Enrique Duque, is serving time for abusing two boys, then aged 7 and 8, in 2007 in a town northwest of Bogota. The Supreme Court decision, announced Thursday, upholds a 2011 lower court ruling that found the diocese liable and ordered that the money be distributed among the boys, their siblings and their parents.

The church had appealed, arguing that the abuse was a violation of Duque’s pastoral mission.

The Supreme Court decision affirms that the church is liable because priest took advantage of his religious role to commit his crimes.

“The diocese must right the wrong that the institution, via one of its agents, inflicted on the defendants,” the court wrote.

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AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times

October 9, 2015

Jorge Branco

The man who accused a senior teacher at one of Queensland’s most exclusive private schools of historic child sex offences has told why he came forward after more than 30 years of silence.

Brenden Sheehan said the publicity around the child abuse royal commission, combined with the hope his words would encourage potential victims to come forward, prompted him to write a blog post accusing Brisbane Grammar School teacher Greg Masters of drugging him and sexually abusing him.

BGS issued a statement saying it had received no complaints about the teacher in his 21-year tenure and it is understood the teacher denied the allegations.

Mr Sheehan’s blog went live on Tuesday, the school became aware of it on Wednesday night and on Thursday morning Mr Masters was found dead in non-suspicious circumstances. Police will prepare a report for the coroner.

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INDIA
The New Indian Express

KOCHI: The police on Tuesday submitted before the Kerala High Court that they had issued a lookout notice against Fr Edwin Figarez, who allegedly raped a 14-year-old girl at the parsonage of Lourdes Matha Church, Puthenvelikkara, on multiple occasions.

It was submitted that a potency test should be conducted on the accused as part of the investigation. The police made the submission opposing the anticipatory bail plea filed by Fr Edwin.

Director General of Prosecution T Asaf Ali submitted that the arrest of the accused and his interrogation were inevitable for collection of evidence. “The cruelty meted out by the accused towards the victim sends a very bad message to society,” it was submitted.

The case is that Fr Edwin raped the minor girl at the parsonage of the Church on various occasions, from January 2015 until March 28, 2015. Vadakkekkara SI T M Varghese, the investigating officer of the case, stated that Bishop of the Kottappuram Diocese had formed a committee to inquire into the allegation against the accused. The probe confirmed that the accused had committed the offence, and the church banned him from participating in the Holy Mass. A circular in this regard was issued on April 12.

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INDIA
Times of India

KOCHI: Two men were on Thursday arrested for facilitating the escape of Father Edwin Figarez, an accused in a child abuse case.

Both the arrested men are Edwin’s relatives, police said, while identifying them as Thrissur residents Silvesto Figarez (58), brother of the Puthenvelikkara church priest and Ben Gari Figarez (22).

Police have also confiscated the car in which the duo allegedly facilitated the escape of Edwin to Bengaluru, from where the priest fled the country to the UAE. Investigators said Ben drove the car with the priest on April 1, a day before Edwin flew out of the country.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

By RICHARD KAY FOR THE DAILY MAIL

Lit by the flickering light of a log fire, their faces glowed with sober mutual interest. The prince with the troubled soul and the priest with all the answers.

Staff at Highgrove, the Prince of Wales’s country home, had grown accustomed to these intimate exchanges when the Rt Rev Peter Ball, the now disgraced Bishop of Gloucester, came to offer solace and enlightenment to their boss.

Charles had long been an admirer of the charismatic and dedicated Anglican churchman, who slept on an old horsehair mattress on the floor of his own Gloucester residence and rose for prayer at 4.30am.

When the Prince’s marriage to Diana was unravelling, Ball’s advice was sought and the prince had written ‘personal letters’ to him. Later, the bishop encouraged him over his relationship with the former Mrs Camilla Parker Bowles.

Indeed, so grateful were both Charles and Camilla for his guidance and his kindness that Ball was invited to their wedding at Windsor Castle in 2005.

Throughout these years, Charles’s support for the bishop was unwavering. ‘They would pray together in the Sanctuary,’ recalls one former aide.

The Sanctuary is a Harry Potter-esque temple built by Charles deep in a glade in Highgrove’s grounds to mark the Millennium, and where he retreats for quiet contemplation.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Local

Reverend Charles Sowden has been ‘suspended’ from duties in the parish of Wyberton, it has been confirmed.

A Diocese of Lincoln spokesman confirmed an investigation was taking place into Mr Sowden.

The spokesman, however, denied to reveal the nature of the investigation or who was carrying it out.

They also confirmed the Bishop of Lincoln revealed Mr Sowden’s suspension to parishioners at St Leodegar’s Church on Sunday.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Lincolnshire Echo

A Lincolnshire parish priest has been suspended from duties in the parish of Wyberton, it has been confirmed.

The Reverend Charles Sowden has been ‘suspended’ from duties in the parish of Wyberton, the Diocese of Lincoln has confirmed.

A spokesman for the Diocese of Lincoln said: “We can confirm that the Rev Charles Sowden is currently suspended from duties in the parish. An investigation is ongoing.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

By John R. Ellement GLOBE STAFF OCTOBER 08, 2015

A Chelmsford woman is suing two former officials in the Boston Archdiocese, alleging that she was sexually molested at a Haverhill parish by a now-defrocked priest because they failed to properly supervise him.

The lawsuit was filed in Middlesex Superior Court by Boston attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who has brought dozens of complaints against members of the clergy in recent years, many of whom once served in the Boston Archdiocese.

The new lawsuit alleges that the woman was victimized in 1999-2001 by Kelvin E. Iguabita when he was assigned to the All Saints Parish in Haverhill and she was between the ages of 5 and 6.

Iguabita is alleged to have repeatedly sexually molested and raped her.

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Milwaukee (WI)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Statement by Peter Isely, SNAP Midwest Director (Milwaukee)
CONTACT: 414.429.7259; peterisely@yahoo.com

This evening at the Milwaukee Catholic cathedral and later at a downtown country club, Catholic lawyers, judges and lawmakers will be processing to the altar with Archbishop Jerome Listecki to celebrate and honor themselves at what is called an annual “Red Mass”. Apparently in the middle ages when every judge was a Catholic, they wore red robes, hence the name.

They will, of course, also be gathering around the bronze frieze of former Archbishop Rembert Weakland depicting himself as a protector of little children, who for over 25 years (detailed in some 60,000 pages of court ordered release church documents), was the principle architect of the cover up of thousands of child sex crimes, over 8,000 documented in reports according to records, by dozens and dozens of sex offending clerics.

How ironic is it that lawyers, judges and lawmakers are gathering, especially now, when 575 Milwaukee victim cases are still languishing in federal bankruptcy court for almost five years. Bankruptcy will soon be coming a close, but not closing with justice. Lawyers will be taking away the most obscene profits from victim cases in US history. Twice as much money will be pocketed by lawyers than will be providing restitution to all victims combined, over two-thirds of the “winnings”, with $19.5 million to church and bankruptcy lawyers (charging anywhere from $450 to $995 dollars a billable hour), $4.5 million for lawyers to lose a federal appeal to protect a likely fraudulent trust set up by former Archbishop Timothy Dolan.

This is hardly the time for Catholic lawyers to celebrate their boom year of profits at the expense of victims of childhood sexual abuse by clergy. Isn’t it more fitting that they pray today for repentance, lower their fees and return some of that money to survivors? And instead of feasting at a country club, how about serving and having supper with the poor at St. Benedict’s meal program, which is conveniently located across from the courthouse?

It’s not likely that the famous Gospel story of Jesus overturning the money tables in the temple, an action of defiance and resistance of capital that directly led to his death, will be the Gospel story proclaimed by Listecki, himself a lawyer, this evening. But it wouldn’t be a bad idea.

Just like the testimony of survivors, the word of Jesus is hard to hear. His desire for justice pierces the legal mumbling and procedures of the law and lawyerly self-congratulations. Sometimes, that desire is betrayed for a buck, as with Judas. Other times, even the most ardent disciple, like Peter, whose name bears the chair which is placed at the center of the Catholic tradition, simply fall asleep when Jesus needs him awake.

In the Christian faith the word of Jesus survived his death in the event they name the resurrection, an event around which the early Christians staked their comfort, their social standing, and in some cases their very lives. They forged together a fighting community of solidarity with the forgotten, the outcast, the unwanted.

Today, one can only hope that the word of Jesus can still be heard tonight and open the hearts of lawyers and judges that they might realize that the word has been made present in the witness and testimony of Milwaukee survivors, in spite of a legal cadre that has so battered and battled them.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

A senior Salvation Army official will appear before a royal commission after three days of evidence detailing the physical and sexual abuse suffered by boys at four homes run by the organisation in three states.

Commissioner Floyd Tidd will front the inquiry in Adelaide on Friday as it examines the Salvos’ response to allegations of abuse between 1940 and 1980.

The commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse is examining the treatment of residents at the Eden Park home in Adelaide, the Box Hill and Bayswater homes in Melbourne and a home at Nedlands in Perth.

It has already heard from a string of witnesses who have told how they were beaten and sexually assaulted, some more than 200 times.

On Thursday, Ross Rogers told how he was threatened with a knife and had his nose broken by an army employee at Box Hill who sexually abused him at almost every opportunity over a four-year period from 1965.

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COLOMBIA
El Pais

[The Colombian Supreme Court in a landmark ruling has said the Catholic Church is patrimonially responsible for sexual abuse of two minors by a priest.]

La Corte Suprema de Justicia impuso la primera condena en contra de la Iglesia Católica colombiana por actos de pederastia realizados por sacerdotes en el país y la declaró patrimonialmente responsable.

En el fallo sin precedentes, la Sala Civil de la Corte declaró a la Iglesia Católica patrimonialmente responsable por el abuso sexual de un sacerdote a dos menores de edad, desplazados por la violencia, que estaban a su cuidado.

La Corte ratificó una condena que en 2011 el Tribunal Superior de Ibagué impuso a la Diócesis de Líbano-Honda a pagar 430 millones de pesos por el abuso sexual cometido por el sacerdote Luis Enrique Duque Valencia, quien fue condenado en 2009 a 18 años de prisión.

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MINNESOTA
Noaker Law Firm

Posted on October 8, 2015

By Attorney Patrick Noaker, October 8, 2015

Investigation by attorneys for a victim of sexual abuse by priest Fr. Michael G. Skoblik at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Silver Lake reveals evidence of widespread sexual abuse of parish children as nuns turned a blind eye. Recently, Patrick Noaker, an attorney for a man who was sexually abused as a boy by Fr. Michael G. Skoblik, filed court documents revealing additional information about sexual abuse by Skoblik. According to the Second Amended Complaint[1] filed in Brown County District Court, Fr. Skoblick sexually abused John Doe 116 beginning in 1968 when he was only 10 or 11 years old. The sexual abuse continued until 1973. According to the court documents, a portion of the sexual abuse occurred during school hours, while John Doe 116 was a student at St. Joseph’s School.

According to attorney Noaker, a witness confirms that while he was a student at St. Joseph in the late 1960’s, he noticed that a few of his fellow classmates were absent from class. When the witness asked the teacher/nun why, the teacher/nun told him that the boys were with Fr. Skoblik to talk about becoming priests. The witness learned later that Fr. Skoblik sexually abused the boys during those meetings.

In addition, Noaker discovered that, according to witnesses, Fr. Skoblik recruited parish boys who expressed an interest in becoming priests to serve as altar boys. Then, Fr. Skoblik sexually abused these boys while they were serving as altar boys. Much of the sexual abuse occurred while the altar servers were changing out of their vestments after mass. While in the sacristy, Fr. Skoblik isolated the boys and sexually assault them. Some of these boys were as young as 2nd grade. According to a witness, Fr. Skoblik’s sexually abusive behavior resulted in many of the parish boys refusing to serve as altar boys. Witnesses report that it was common knowledge at St. Joseph’s parish that Fr. Skoblik had sexual contact with parish boys.

One witness remembers an occasion when he was a student at St. Joseph School, his teacher/nun instructed the class to write notes to Fr. Skoblik. The nun/teacher then instructed the witness to take the notes to Fr. Skoblik in the rectory. The witness read the notes and learned that several of the notes were from students accusing Fr. Skoblik of improperly touching them. One of the notes contained a drawing of the lower portion of a body with an “X” drawn through it.

Despite this widespread knowledge of Fr. Skoblik’s sexual abuse of parish boys, law enforcement authorities were never contacted. According to James Jurek, the Silver Lake Police Chief during the 1960’s and 1970’s, even though he heard rumors of Fr. Skoblik abusing children in the 1990’s, there was never a report to the police about Fr. Skoblik.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Eagle-Tribune

By Mike LaBella mlabella@eagletribune.com

HAVERHILL — The president of a nonprofit agency providing services to victims of sexual abuse was in Haverhill late Thursday morning to publicly announce details of a civil lawsuit filed on behalf of a woman who, as a child, was allegedly sexually assaulted by a former priest at All Saints Church.

Robert Hoatson, co-founder and president of Road to Recovery Inc., stood on the sidewalk outside All Saints Church, 120 Bellevue Ave., next to a Methuen man who said he is building up the courage to publicly announce he was the victim of sexual abuse by a priest as well.

Hoatson said the lawsuit filed on behalf of the woman alleges Kelvin Iguabita, a former All Saints priest convicted in 2003 of raping a 15-year-old girl on the church property, also sexually assaulted another victim when she was 5 years old.

The suit, being brought against the Archdiocese of Boston, says Iguabita assaulted the younger girl from 1999 to 2001. The suit says the victim is now 21.

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ROME
VICE News

By Liz Fields

October 8, 2015

On the eve the Nobel Peace Prize announcement, for which Pope Francis is widely believed to be a top contender, the pontiff was recorded calling Chilean protesters “dumb” for rallying against the bishop of Osorno, Chile, who has been linked to one of the country’s most notorious clerical child molesters.

“The Osorno community is suffering because it’s dumb,” Pope Francis told visitors to Vatican City in St. Peter’s Square, according to one translation by the New York Times. It “has let its head be filled with what politicians say, judging a bishop without any proof.”

“Don’t be led by the nose by the leftists who orchestrated all of this,” he added.

The “leftists” are presumed to be socialist members of Chile’s Congress, who have signed a petition opposing Barros’s appointment as bishop.

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ROME
Telegraph (UK)

By Nick Squires, Rome 08 Oct 2015

Pope Francis has angered groups protesting against clerical sex abuse by calling them “dumb”, raising doubts about his commitment to tackling an issue that has shattered trust in the Catholic Church worldwide.

The Pope made the remarks during an audience in St Peter’s Square, directing them at a group of Catholics from the city of Osorno in Chile who have held protests against a local bishop accused of complicity in a sex abuse scandal.

“The Osorno community is suffering because it’s dumb … It has let its head be filled with what politicians say, judging a bishop without any proof,” the South American pontiff said.

“Don’t be led by the nose by the Leftists who orchestrated all of this.” He made the remarks in May but they have only just emerged.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

[with video]

Soli Salgado | Oct. 8, 2015

On Oct. 2, a Chilean news channel brought to light a May 6 recording of Pope Francis defending Bishop Juan Barros, who was recently assigned to Osorno, Chile, despite allegations that the new bishop covered up clergy sex abuse by a priest in the 1980s and 1990s.

Though evidence of the priest’s abuse was verified by Chile’s judicial court, statute of limitations allowed Fr. Fernando Karadima to dodge prosecution. When a separate Vatican investigation found the priest guilty of abuse, he was condemned in 2011 to a life of prayer and penance in a convent outside of Santiago.

“[The diocese] lost its independence once it let its head be filled with what politicians say, who are judging a bishop without any evidence, even after 20 years as bishop,” Francis said in the May 6 recording, before a group of Chilean Catholics in Rome who asked the pope to send a message to those in Osorno disappointed by the arrival of Barros. “Think with your heads and do not be led by the noses by the lefties who orchestrated this whole thing,” he said in Spanish, as translated by NCR.

Though Barros was never tried for covering up Karadima’s abuse, testimonial evidence has suggested Barros destroyed incriminating correspondence, while other victim testimonies claimed Barros was present during the sexual acts. Though Chilean courts uphold the testimonial evidence, Barros has denied the allegations and has never faced a canonical or civil case.

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UNITED STATES
Washington Post

[with video]

By Adam Taylor October 8

Few global figures have enjoyed a more positive public image recently than Pope Francis, the remarkably popular leader of the Catholic Church. But a newly released video that appears to show the pope calling critics of the church’s actions in Chile “dumb” has prompted fresh protests in the Latin American country – and could also harm the pontiff’s reputation internationally.

The video, aired by a Chilean TV channel last week, was initially filmed at the Vatican in May. According to Catholic news Web site Crux, the video shows Jaime Coiro, a former spokesman for the Chilean Bishops Conference, greeting Francis in St Peter’s Square.

In the video, Francis talks about criticism that the Catholic church in Chile was facing at the time. The appointment of Bishop Juan Barros Madrid to the Osorno, Chile, diocese had drawn protests throughout the country due to accusations that Barros had helped cover up the sexual abuse of minors by his then-superior, the Rev. Fernando Karadima, and may have witnessed some of the abuse himself.

The Vatican found Karadima guilty of sexually abusing minors in 2011 and sentenced him to a “life of prayer and penitence.” While Barros spent more than 30 years working with Karadima, he has denied any cover-up, and the Vatican released a short statement offering a defense of the bishop’s appointment in March. The newly released video, however, shows Francis going much further – not only angrily defending Barros’s appointment, but seemingly insulting the intelligence of protesters.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A Roman Catholic priest has been charged in connection with more than 3,000 indecent images of children.

Paul Clarke, 71, from East Sussex, but now living in Manchester, is due to appear before Brighton magistrates on 15 October.

He is charged with possessing an indecent image of a child, possession of prohibited images and making a total of 3,100 indecent images of children.

All charges relate to images taken off the internet, Sussex Police said.

Mr Clarke, of Redclyffe Road, Urmston, Greater Manchester, but formerly of Watchbell Road, Rye in East Sussex, was charged after an investigation by the paedophile on-line investigation team of Sussex Police.

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ITALY
The Daily Beast

Barbie Latza Nadeau

ROME — Errant priests are dropping like flies in Italy these days. Last weekend, Polish Monsignor Krysztof Charamsa was relieved of his services to the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith after a coming-out press conference here in which he nuzzled his boyfriend and announced a pending book deal for his tome outlining the Vatican’s “institutionalized homophobia.”

This week, it’s a 75-year-old parish priest in the northern city of Trento who justified pedophilia by victim-blaming, telling Italy’s La7 television channel that often it is needy children who cause weak priests to succumb to their urges.

“Unfortunately, there are children who seek affection because they don’t get it at home and then if they find some priest he can even give in. I understand this,” the Rev. Gino Flaim said. When the shocked TV reporter asked if he was saying it was the child victims’ fault, he said, “In many cases, yes.” Then he closed the interview by saying that while he somehow understood the cause of sexual violence against minors, he simply couldn’t wrap his head around the phenomenon of gay priests. “Homosexuality, I don’t know,” he said. “I think it’s a sickness.”

Flaim’s comments understandably enraged the Vatican, which is in the midst of a crucial summit of bishops that is meant to focus on the woes facing Catholic families—from birth control to Communion for divorced and remarried Catholics—but has been largely sidetracked by the issue of same-sex unions and how priests must minister to the LGBT community. Pope Francis has not escaped the mud-slinging, after first admitting to a meeting with gay-marriage opponent Kim Davis on his recent trip to the U.S., which his press machine followed up with the clarification of the meet-up as a “brief encounter” and an announcement that he also had a cordial audience with a longtime friend and his same-sex partner.

The trouble in Trento couldn’t come at a worse time as the Vatican tries to control its message in Rome. The elderly priest was stripped of his duties—but not his collar. On Thursday, Flaim told La Repubblica that he had no idea what he said that was so upsetting. “I said that I understood them, not that I condone them,” he said. “It’s very different.”

That may be, but support groups for victims of clerical sexual abuse say Flaim’s “preposterous and hurtful” comments reflect a commonly held sentiment among the clerical community. “Time and time again, for decades, we’ve seen priests and bishops make this claim,” David Clohessy, national director for the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests known as SNAP told The Daily Beast. “Hundreds of clerics have publicly blamed kids for their own victimization. And we suspect that thousands more privately hold these self-serving attitudes but are smart enough to hide their views.”

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

Tom Gallagher reports yesterday evening for National Catholic Reporter about his attempts to gather more information about who initiated the “highly secret rendezvous” of Kim Davis with the pope, which included a Secret Service pick-up of Davis and her husband to bring them (her hair bundled in a head covering to disguise her) to the residence of the papal nuncio. As he writes,

It’s hard to believe that a seasoned Vatican diplomat such as Viganò would, on his own initiative and in complete isolation, invite Davis to meet Pope Francis without seeking counsel and support from others. But to whom did he turn for such counsel and support?

Two of Viganò’s fellow Catholic speakers at the traditional marriage event in April both deny any involvement in arranging the Davis-Pope Francis meeting.

I asked Lori’s executive director of communications, Sean Craine, by email if Lori had directly or indirectly initiated, advocated or facilitated the Davis meeting with Pope Francis at the nunciature during the pope’s visit to Washington, D.C.

Craine promptly responded by email: “No, he did not.”

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Tom Gallagher | Oct. 7, 2015 NCR Today

Everyone loves a mystery! And do we have a mystery in figuring out who initiated and secured the meeting between Pope Francis and Kim Davis, the government official from Rowan County, Kentucky, whose attempts to impose her anti-marriage equality religious views on her community by not issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in defiance of the law landed her — rightfully — in jail. Her illegal behavior under the guise of “religious liberty” made Davis the reigning queen of far right conservative groups.

As I noted yesterday, the law firm representing Davis, Liberty Counsel, was designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an anti-gay hate group for spreading false information. The Southern Poverty Law Center lists 728 hate groups, e.g., Neo-Nazi groups (142 groups) and active Ku Klux Clan groups (72 groups), in the United States and has created a U.S. map identifying each group and its location, which you can view here. You can read the center’s analysis of Liberty Counsel and its lawyer, Mat Staver, here.

Married lawyers Mat and Anita Staver run Liberty Counsel. In reviewing the organization’s 990 tax returns, it was a bit odd to read the disclosure about their relationship in the filing as “Anita Staver and Mat Staver have a family relationship.” For such a zealous pro-traditional marriage firm, it seems odd that they didn’t list themselves as “husband and wife.”

So for now, all we really know is that the Vatican’s representative to the U.S., papal nuncio Carlo Maria Viganò, is in the center of who might have approved Davis’ highly secret rendezvous with Pope Francis at the nuncio’s residence in Washington, D.C., that included a Secret Service pick-up and delivery of Davis and her husband, Joe.

But did Viganò act alone?

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UNITED KINGDOM
Spectator

Damian Thompson

This picture of Pope Francis apparently talking to retired Belgian cardinal Godfried Danneels at the Synod on the Family, which began this week, is circulating on Twitter and disturbing many Catholics. This is what you need to know:

1. Five years ago, Cardinal Danneels tried to cover up a revolting case of family sex abuse.

As the National Catholic Reporter revealed on August 30, 2010:

Audio recordings leaked to the Belgian media this weekend reveal Belgium’s Cardinal Godfried Danneels urging a sex abuse victim not to make public that his abuser was his uncle Bishop Roger Vangheluwe of Bruges, Belgium. The recordings show Danneels pressuring the young man not to force Vangheluwe to resign.

The transcript quoted by the newspaper is chilling:

Cardinal Danneels asks if the nephew wants Vangheluwe to resign and adds: ‘But that is his decision. I can mention it but that’s all. You expect me to do something that I cannot do. I don’t know what more to do. Or perhaps I have to find some other way to bring this to a satisfactory conclusion.’

When the nephew stresses that the cardinal must speak to pope and that Vangeluwe must be sanctioned by the church, Cardinal Danneels responds ‘Yes but… You can also ask forgiveness and, well, you can also acknowledge your own guilt.’

Nephew: ‘Whose forgiveness do I have to seek? I am not the one to ask for forgiveness.’
Danneels: ‘He can do that. That’s correct.’

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UNITED KINGDOM
Manchester Evening News

BY BEN MITCHELL

A Roman Catholic priest from Greater Manchester has been charged in connection with more than 3,000 indecent images of children.

Paul Clarke, now of Redclyffe Road, Urmston, but formerly of Watchbell Road, Rye, East Sussex, is due to appear on bail at Brighton Magistrates’ Court on Thursday October 15, charged with offences relating to indecent images of children.

The 71-year-old faces charges of possessing an indecent image of a child, possession of prohibited images, and three of making a total of 3,100 indecent images of children.

A Sussex Police spokesman said: “The charges, authorised by the Crown Prosecution Service, follow an intelligence-led investigation by the Paedophile On-Line Investigation Team (POLIT) of Sussex Police.

“All the charges involve images allegedly taken from the internet. There is no evidence of contact offending and none of the images are of local children.

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