ABUSE TRACKER

ITALIA
la Repubblica

[Priest Don Mauro Inzoli has been accused of abusing five minors and has sought a plea bargain.]

di MATTEO PUCCIARELLI

Aveva chiesto il patteggiamento, ma il gip non l’ha formalizzato: per don Mauro Inzoli nei prossimi giorni verrà fissata l’udienza preliminare che dovrà decidere sul suo rinvio a giudizio. Le accuse erano note e sono gravissime: l’ex numero uno di Comunione e Liberazione in Lombardia avrebbe abusato sessualmente di cinque minori tra il 2004 e il 2008, in tutto otto episodi contestati; mentre altri quindici sono caduti in prescrizione. Rischia 12 anni di reclusione.

Don Inzoli all’epoca dei fatti era rettore del liceo linguistico Shakespeare di Crema, parroco della Santissima Trinità della stessa cittadina nonché presidente del Banco Alimentare. Proprio grazie a questi ruoli che lo rendevano un “idolo meritevole di venerazione” (ha raccontato uno dei giovani) don Inzoli avrebbe avuto la capacità di assoggettare i minori.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

By RICHARD SPILLETT

Information provided by victims to the independent child abuse inquiry has been deleted, it emerged today.

The inquiry admitted that, due to a change in its website address, any submissions through an online form between September 14 and October 2 was ‘instantly and permanently deleted’ before it reached staff.

The information erased in the blunder had been given to the ‘share your experience’ section of the website.

The website was set up for victims and survivors wanting to share their experiences with officials working on the probe.

Those who provided details between the two dates have now been asked to resubmit their information.

The inquiry apologised for the incident and stressed that no material was at risk of disclosure.

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NEW YORK
New York Times

By BENJAMIN MUELLER
OCT. 16, 2015

The founder and longtime pastor at Word of Life Christian Church shamed congregants from the pulpit, dredging up old sins and recounting them at Sunday services in humiliating detail, a former member said.

He demanded they redo the floors and fix the plumbing in his living quarters, day after day for hours, until they felt numb from sleep deprivation. Members who raised questions were put on church discipline and forbidden to speak to others.

And the founder, Jerry Irwin, taught hate, using racial slurs during sermons, according to the former member, Chadwick Handville.

In the aftermath of the brutal beating at Word of Life Christian Church in central New York that left one teenage congregant dead and his younger brother seriously injured this week, investigators have been trying to understand how that violent episode may have grown out of what some described as a church culture of secrecy and isolation.

Mr. Handville, who defected from the church in 2000 after a decade of praying and working there and who now lives in Phoenix, offered the first detailed public account since the teenager’s death of what happened behind the church’s locked gates and thick row of hedges.

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NEW YORK
Observer-Dispatch

By Philip A. Vanno Posted Oct. 15, 2015

For the past 15 years, Chadwick M. Handville has done everything he could to forget the time he spent as a member, worship leader and trustee at the Word of Life Christian Church in Chadwicks.

But despite his best efforts, which have included everything from seeking spiritual healing to moving clear across the country to Phoenix, the 46-year-old has not been able to escape the damage that 10 years of living in a “Hollywood nightmare” has wrought on his life.

“It was horrible,” said Handville, who has divorced his wife — whom he met at the Church — and lost touch with his stepchildren since leaving the church in June 2000. “There was constant manipulation, intimidation, fear and lies. And seeing what has happened now all over the news, it’s bringing it all back to the surface.”

Tragedy struck the church this week with the death of 19-year-old Lucas Leonard and the beating of his 17-year-old brother Christopher Leonard. The boys’ parents, Bruce and Deborah Leonard of Clayville, have been charged with manslaughter in Lucas’ death.

Four other members of the church — Joseph Irwin, 26, of Chadwicks; David Morey, 26, and Linda Morey, 54, both of Utica; and the Leonards’ daughter Sarah Ferguson, 33, also of Clayville — are charged with felony second-degree assault in what officials have labeled as a counseling session that went terribly wrong.

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NEW YORK
Seattle Times

By Rick Rojas
BENJAMIN MUELLER
The New York Times

CLAYVILLE, N.Y. — The pastor of a secretive church in central New York was holding a meeting to address concerns that a young congregant wanted to defect when other church members began to beat him in an attack that eventually stretched over 10 hours, a prosecutor said Thursday.

The congregant, Lucas Leonard, 19, later died, and his younger brother, Christopher Leonard, 17, remained hospitalized Thursday with serious injuries inflicted during the beating, which, authorities said, started after Sunday services and lasted until early Monday. The brothers’ parents were charged with manslaughter in the death. Four other adults, including the victims’ half-sister, are charged with assault in the younger brother’s beating.

A police spokesman said counseling sessions like the one that preceded Lucas Leonard’s death were routine at Word of Life Church in New Hartford and were meant to deal with questions about adherents’ spiritual standing. The spokesman said investigators had no indication the sessions had led to beatings before.

Defense lawyers for the brothers’ parents, Bruce Leonard, 65, and Deborah Leonard, 59, offered a different account of the meeting, describing it as a family gathering to discuss the brothers’ behavior toward relatives and church members. A lawyer for Deborah Leonard, Devin Garramone, said, “It had something to do with the boys maybe touching some of the other children in the church.”

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CHILE
24 Horas

[The Supreme Court of Chile has approved a request that the Vatican be asked to turn over information on the canonical investigation of priest Fernando Karadima.]

Por Marian Basso

Este jueves mediante un escrito redactado por el ministro de fuero subrogante Mauricio Silva que lleva el juicio civil en contra del arzobispado se solicitó al Vaticano la entrega de antecedentes relativos a la indagatoria realizada en 2011 a Fernando Karadima por abusos sexuales.

La petición inicial de estos informes fue realizada el pasado 1 de octubre por la defensa del arzobispado liderada por Nicolás Luco. En el escrito, el abogado indica que esta información es relevante para el punto cinco de la demanda que refiere a la “actitud del arzobispado de Santiago al tomar noticia de las efectuadas por los demandantes ante los abusos de que fueron objeto”.

La Corte Suprema deberá solicitar estos antecedentes a través de un exhorto internacional a la Santa Sede. El abogado de las víctimas de Karadima, Juan Pablo Hermosilla, se mostró conforme con la petición del arzobispado.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

Child sex abuse victims have been asked to resubmit information to an inquiry after it was accidentally deleted.

Online forms were deleted due to a “change in our website address”, the Goddard Inquiry into historical abuse said on its website.

Forms submitted to the inquiry’s “share you experience” page from 14 September to 2 October had been lost, it said.

It apologised for “any inconvenience or distress”, but said no information was “at risk of disclosure”.

The statement does not indicate how many submissions were deleted – or whether the number is known by inquiry staff.

The inquiry, sparked by claims of paedophiles operating in Westminster in the 1980s, will investigate whether “state and non-state institutions have failed in their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse and exploitation” in England and Wales.

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UNITED STATES
Stetson University Today

October 14, 2015

No one wanted to think about it.

Tasked with the job of prosecuting perpetrators of the unthinkable, Basyle “Boz” Tchividjian BA ’90 watched his peers do what they could to avoid handling cases of child sexual abuse.

But as a young assistant state attorney handling a variety of criminal cases, Tchividjian couldn’t ignore the horror of those that violated children. When he volunteered to aggressively prosecute all of the 7th Judicial Circuit’s child sex abuse cases, the state attorney approved and established a sex-crimes unit that handled hundreds of cases, a third of them involving children.
It was the start of a lifelong passion for fighting child sexual abuse.

“As I was prosecuting, you really see the cases up close,” says Tchividjian. “You see the victims, the families, the devastation, but you also deal with the offenders. You see common characteristics and behaviors, and get a comprehensive picture of this offense.”

The issue remained heavy on his heart as he went into private practice in 2001. “What do I do with all of this information that I learned in the trenches?” Tchividjian asked himself.

It wasn’t until a Wisconsin newspaper reporter called his law office that his calling became clear.

According to the reporter, five years earlier a Milwaukee father had reported to his church pastor that his young daughter was sexually abused by another congregation member. The pastor invited the father to meet with the offender, who cried, asked for forgiveness, and confessed gratefulness that he had been caught. Convinced of his repentance, the pastor asked the father to forgive the offender and not report the matter to police. The father agreed.

By the time the journalist contacted Tchividjian, the offender had since abused at least six more children in the church since the original incident. That was the moment Boz decided to educate Christians on how to protect its youngest members from such abuse.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston.com

[with video]

By Allison Pohle @AllisonPohle Video by Ryan Breslin
Boston.com Staff | 10.15.15

Nancy Shilts looked beyond the open doors of St. Frances X Cabrini Church Wednesday afternoon during her vigil shift. Dark clouds hung in the sky, but she couldn’t stop searching for what she called a “sign from heaven,” that something good was going to happen.

It never came.

When she left the Scituate church that night, the sky was still dark. She had just heard the news that she and the other parishioners of the church had lost their appeal. The state appeals court ruled that the parishioners of St. Frances X. Cabrini Church were trespassing, and would need to leave.

They haven’t.

About 100 parishioners—known as the “Friends of St. Frances X. Cabrini”—have kept a 24-7 vigil inside their beloved church for nearly 11 years. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston decided to shutter the church in 2004 as part of its reorganization plan, but the group had other ideas. They’ve made sure at least one member of the church is inside at all times to prevent the archdiocese from closing it. …

St. Frances X Cabrini was one of many churches the archdiocese decided to close in 2004. Carmody said this was directly tied to the clergy sexual abuse scandal, when scores of Catholics left the church and the parishes didn’t have enough funds to keep the doors open.

Carmody said two priests accused of sexual abuse have ties to the church. Thomas Forry was defrocked, and she said another unnamed priest left the church and reached a settlement with the victim’s family.

“The archdiocese will have you believe this is a separate issue, but it really isn’t,” Rogers said.

“The closing of the church is in a lineage of reactions. We here want to make sure there are no more victims and that churches are not sold off to repay the cost of sexual abuse. You don’t get to abuse children and then steal our church to pay for your sins.”

The clergy sexual abuse scandal is directly tied to the devotion the parishioners have for their church, he said.

“We ask: When does the pain stop?” Rogers said. “The pain the families have gone through is only exacerbated by the fact that you want to tear down this church. That’s where our inner anger comes from. That’s why we’re still here.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
WCVB

SCITUATE, Mass. —Scituate parishioners who have kept their closed church open for years are vowing to continue their fight after their appeal was denied.

Margy O’Brien, 85, is trespassing. She doesn’t mince words speaking about how she feels about the archdiocese.

“Dismayed, disrespected but by golly, we are going to fight this,” she said.

Parishioners of St Frances X. Cabrini have stayed in the church 24/7. Vigils have held off the closure of the church for 11 years — that’s more than 4,000 days of defiance.

The group was dealt a legal blow Wednesday when the Massachusetts Appeals Court ruled that they are trespassers and that the Boston Archdiocese may order them to leave.

The group said the church sex abuse crisis motivates them to keep fighting.

“I wonder if (Cardinal Sean) O’Malley knows how many priests assigned to St. Frances were abusers?” attorney Mary Elizabeth Carmody said.

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MASSACHUSETTS
CBS Boston

SCITUATE (CBS/AP) – A group of the parishioners who have held a vigil at their closed church for more than a decade is asking for mercy from Cardinal Sean O’Malley.

The Massachusetts Appeals Court affirmed a judge’s ruling Wednesday that parishioners at St. Frances X. Cabrini Church in Scituate are trespassing on property owned by the Archdiocese of Boston.

The archdiocese shut down the church in 2004 as part of a reorganization effort to pay financial settlements in the priest sex abuse crisis. The parishioners have fought the closing by occupying it for 24 hours a day for the last 11 years.

Legally they can continue their fight with a petition that must be filed in the next two weeks.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Reuters

SCITUATE, MASS. | BY SCOTT MALONE

Parishioners who have occupied their Massachusetts church for 11 years to prevent the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston from closing it vowed on Thursday to continue their vigil despite a ruling by the state’s top court that they are trespassing.

A group of parishioners of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Church in Scituate said they would keep up their 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week vigil, the last and longest-running of a half dozen mounted by Boston-area parishes targeted for closure early in the Church’s sexual abuse crisis.

“We’re disappointed,” said Jon Rogers, a leader of the vigil, in response to Wednesday’s decision by Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court that the group has no legal standing to remain in the brick building constructed in the 1960s.

“There’s a lot of anger in this room,” he said, standing in front of a stained-glass window in the church with about a dozen fellow parishioners, most in their 60s and 70s. “There’s still a lot of commitment here.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
WGBH

[with audio]

By CRAIG LEMOULT

Parishioners at a shuttered Catholic church in Scituate say they will continue their 11 year vigil there, despite an Appeals Court ruling this week that said they’re trespassing.

The parishioners leading the vigil to keep open St. Francis Cabrini were undaunted by this week’s ruling. They say they plan to file for a rehearing with the Appeals Court, as well as filing a petition the state Supreme Judicial Court. And if those don’t go their way, they say they’re willing to bring their case to federal courts. The Archdiocese of Boston announced plans to close St. Francis in 2004 because of declining attendance, too few priests, and financial problems compounded by settlements from the clergy sex-abuse scandal.In a press conference, members of the parish said it’s wrong to close their church to pay for those settlements. In a statement, the Archdiocese asked the parishioners to respect the court’s decision and conclude the vigil.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Wicked Local Scituate

By Ruth Thompson
rthompson@wickedlocal.com

Posted Oct. 15, 2015

SCITUATE

The Friends of St. Frances X. Cabrini, Inc. are reaching out to Cardinal Sean O’Malley for mercy after the state Appeals Court upheld a ruling stating parishioners are trespassing.

“Pope Francis has introduced the year of mercy,” said Maryellen Rogers, a spokesperson for the Friends along with her husband, Jon. “Mercy is very dear to the Pope. We ask Cardinal O’Malley for mercy. This church is very important. The people of this community have dedicated their hearts and souls.”

On Oct. 14 a ruling by the Norfolk Superior Court was upheld by the state appeals court stating the Friends, who have been holding vigil at the Hood Street property since 2004 when the Archdiocese of Boston closed the church as part of its reorganization plan, were trespassing.

Maryellen called the Oct. 14 decision “heartbreaking.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

By Laura Crimaldi and Andy Rosen GLOBE STAFF OCTOBER 15, 2015

SCITUATE — A group of Roman Catholic parishioners called on Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley Thursday to reverse plans to close the church where they’ve held a vigil for nearly 11 years.

The statements from members of Friends of St. Frances X. Cabrini came at a news conference a day after the Massachusetts Appeals Court ruled that they are trespassers and the Boston Archdiocese, as the owner of the property, has the right to order them to leave.

The group, which members say numbers around 100, is still considering its legal options. An attorney said members could seek further review by the appeals court or ask the Supreme Judicial Court to hear an appeal.

The group also called on O’Malley, the leader of the Roman Catholic church in Boston, to visit the church and reconsider the closure.

“We’re disappointed. I can say there’s a lot of anger in this room,” vigil leader Jon Rogers said Thursday. “Everyone believes that this is self-centered. Indeed it is not.”

Members of the vigil say O’Malley has not spoken to them about the clergy sex abuse scandal, which they say affected their parish.

“You don’t get to abuse children and then steal our church to pay for your sins,” Rogers said Thursday.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

The Anglican Diocese of Newcastle has revealed a now dead priest, who once worked across the Hunter region, was a paedophile.

Bishop Greg Thompson released a statement overnight saying the Diocesan Professional Standards Office had verified information the late Hunter Valley reverend Michael Cooper had engaged in sexual abuse of children.

Before he died in 2007, he worked in the parishes of East Maitland, Telarah/Rutherford, Mount Vincent/Weston, Cessnock/Wollombi, Hamilton and Waratah.

Bishop Thompson said, as well as the abuse, Cooper supplied alcohol and prohibited drugs to minors.

A private meeting was held in Rutherford overnight where parishioners were informed of the revelation.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Sky News

By Tom Parmenter, Sky News Correspondent

The Goddard Inquiry into historical child sexual abuse has apologised after information provided by survivors was destroyed before it was even looked at.

A website glitch was blamed for the error, which was described as “unacceptable” by campaigners and people who had been abused.

The inquiry, which is only just getting under way, is led by New Zealand judge Lowell Goddard and will examine institutional failings over child sexual abuse over many decades.

A statement on the Goddard Inquiry website said: “Due to a change in our website address to www.iicsa.org.uk on 14 September, any information submitted to the inquiry between 14 September and 2 October through the online form on the ‘share your experience’ page of our website was instantly and permanently deleted before it reached our engagement team.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse

15 October

Due to a change in our website address to www.iicsa.org.uk on 14 September, any information submitted to the Inquiry between 14 September and 2 October through the online form on the “Share your experience” page of our website, was instantly and permanently deleted before it reached our engagement team.

We are very sorry for any inconvenience or distress this will cause and would like to reassure you that no information was put at risk of disclosure or unauthorised access. Due to the security measures on our website, your information cannot be found or viewed by anyone else as it was immediately and permanently destroyed.

We would like to apologise again to anyone who submitted details to the Inquiry during this time and to ask you to please resubmit your information through the online form. Alternatively you can call the Inquiry helpline on 0800 917 1000 to submit your information over the phone, or email our team at contact@iicsa.org.uk.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Rajeev Syal
Thursday 15 October 2015

Information provided by alleged child abuse victims to the overarching inquiry set up by Theresa May has been deleted due to a blunder, it has emerged.

Submissions sent through an online form to the inquiry between 14 September and 2 October were “instantly and permanently deleted” on Thursday before it reached staff.

The information had been sent to the “share your experience” section of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse (IICSA) website, set up for victims and survivors wanting to share their experiences with officials working on the probe.

Those who provided details between the two dates have now been asked to resubmit their information. The inquiry apologised for the incident and stressed that no material was at risk of disclosure.

The inquiry – set up last July following claims of a high-level cover-up of abuse – has been beset by delays following the resignation of two previous chairwomen, Lady Butler-Sloss and and Fiona Woolf.

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ROME
Crux

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

ROME — Crux owes Cardinal Wilfrid Fox Napier of Durban, South Africa, an apology. Although it’s coming later than it should, this piece is intended to deliver it.

Although it largely got lost amid a bigger controversy this week over a letter signed by several cardinals objecting to elements of the process at the 2015 Synod of Bishops, a smaller row broke out Tuesday over a Crux piece published the day before in which Napier was quoted as saying he shared concerns over a drafting committee for the synod’s final document, “challenging Pope Francis’ right to choose them.”

The interview was conducted by my Crux colleague, Inés San Martín, on Monday, who recorded it on her smartphone and then transcribed it. I listened to the recording and confirmed the transcript. What both of us heard was the following:

“One of the concerns was, and this I really would share, is the choice of the people that are drawing up the document, challenging Pope Francis’ right to choose them. If we’re going to get a fair expression of what the synod is about, what the Church in Africa really would like to see happening, we wouldn’t like to see the same kind of people on that committee that were there the last time, that caused us the grief that we had.”

At about 9 a.m. Tuesday, Napier called San Martín to say he had not challenged the pope’s right to make the appointments. Since that part of the recording was a bit unclear, we removed the line from the story.

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ROME
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

Thu, Oct 15, 2015

Dublin abuse survivor Marie Collins has said she is satisfied that attempts by Chilean Catholic Church leaders to prevent another survivor becoming a member of the Vatican’s commission for the protection of minors was not a factor in him not being appointed. The commission met at the Vatican last week.

It emerged from leaked emails published in the Chilean media last month that Archbishop of Santiago Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati Andrello and his predecessor Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz Osso attempted to block survivor Juan Carlos Cruz from being appointed to the commission. The church in Chile confirmed the emails were authentic.

Mr Cruz, an active child protection campaigner in Chile, had accused Cardinal Errazuriz of covering up the crimes of the priest who abused him. The cardinal, one of Pope Francis’s nine-member Council of Cardinals, acknowledged in court that he failed to act on abuse allegations against the relevant priest because he believed them to be untrue.

Ms Collins had proposed Mr Cruz for membership of the Vatican Commission but he was not appointed. When the leaked emails between the two cardinals were published in Chile’s El Mostrador newspaper she said she was personally “disgusted at the attitude displayed by these leaders in the church to the pontifical commission and to a survivor of abuse”. …

Disappointment

On a separate matter she repeated her disappointment in Pope Francis after it emerged he had defended his appointment of another Chilean bishop accused of covering-up child abuse involving the same priest who abused Mr Cruz.

Mr Cruz alleged Bishop Juan Barros, appointed by the pope to the diocese of Osorno in Chile last March, had actually witnessed abuse by the priest.

In a video filmed in St Peter’s Square last May, the pope defended the appointment when asked by Chilean pilgrims.

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ROME
National Post

Alice Philipson, The Telegraph | October 15, 2015

Conservatives within the Catholic Church are trying to lay “poisoned bait” for Pope Francis, it has been claimed, just days after he faced a rebellion from Vatican cardinals opposed to his more liberal stance.

With the Pope mid-way through a family summit dogged by scandal and rumours of plotting, Italian newspapers reported on schemes to destabilise Francis. Nello Scavo, a journalist at Avvenire, a daily linked to the Church, told La Repubblica there was a concerted move to “weaken the character and the strength of Pope Francis.”

“There is an ideological battle, it is true,” said Scavo, the author of a new book entitled The Enemies of Francis. “There have also been some inside the curia who have tried to lay poisoned bait for Francis.”

He cited the example of Krzysztof Charamsa, a senior Vatican official and Polish priest, who came out publicly as gay just a day before the summit began, criticising what he called “institutionalised homophobia in the Church.”

Charamsa also claimed that a majority of priests were gay, after which he was sacked.

Leonardo Boff, a theologian who has close ties with the Pope, told Oggi magazine it was “a trap set by those on the Right of the Church who oppose the Pope.”

“Because he [Charamsa] didn’t do it in a simple way,” he added. “But in a provocative way in order to create problems for the Synod and for Francis.”

On Monday the three-week debate — tackling issues such as homosexuality and divorce — was thrown into chaos as a rebellious letter to Pope Francis signed by 13 cardinals was leaked to Italy’s L’Espresso magazine.

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VATICAN CITY
BBC News

By David Willey
BBC News, Rome

At the midway point of one of the most significant Vatican meetings since the Second Vatican Council half a century ago uncertainty reigns among the nearly 300 participants – most of them celibate male clerics – about what it will or can accomplish.

Pope Francis is being challenged by some powerful cardinals holding key posts inside the Vatican who fear for their careers, as a smaller group of clerics who support his reforms are pushing for change.

The Pope has been warning darkly against unspecified “conspiracies” and “scandals” by lobbies who are playing a new role in Church politics. The existence of a so called “gay lobby” inside the Vatican has been confirmed by the outing of a gay priest who decided to go public on the eve of the opening of the Synod, causing shock and embarrassment to the organisers.

Pope Francis is the first Pope ever to utter the word “gay” in public.

Hitherto, a deep taboo has prevailed on the subject of homosexuality and homophobia. Pope Francis is recommending a more merciful and less judgmental attitude towards gays who want to remain inside the church.

One synod participant, the Archbishop of Brisbane in Australia, Mark Coleridge, has been blogging throughout the conference giving a refreshingly candid view of the discussions.

He has complained, however, about “lack of focus” and a tendency towards “Church-speak”, which he admits “may seem wondrous to us, but communicates little or nothing to most people”.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic Culture

Sando Magister, the Italian journalist who became a focus of attention at the Synod of Bishops after publishing a letter from 13 cardinals to Pope Francis, has pointed out that the existence of that letter had already been reported.

Andrea Tornielli of La Stampa had reported on the cardinals’ letter to the Pontiff on October 8, and provided an accurate summary of the letter’s contents Magister observes. Tornielli’s report briefly appeared on the Vatican Insider web site, but then was removed; a print version was published by La Stampa.

Magister published a text of the letter– later revealed to contain some inaccuracies– on October 12.

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UNITED STATES
Religion Dispatches

BY PATRICIA MILLER OCTOBER 14, 2015

While most reactions to the 13 conservative cardinals who sent a letter to Pope Francis complaining that the outcome of the family synod was rigged in favor of progressives focused on the intrigue over the letter’s content and (supposed) signers, another significant element has flown largely under the radar.

Rather than highlight doctrine, tradition, or more direct social harms, the dissenters couched their concerns in terms of the effect of any reforms of marriage practice on the church, warning that it risked going the way of shrinking liberal Protestant denominations if it abandoned “key elements of Christian belief and practice in the name of pastoral adaptation.”

This is a long-standing contention of conservatives, as voiced most famously by Ross Douthat, who offers as proof the Episcopal Church, which aggressively adopted a host of progressive reforms to stay relevant, “[y]et instead of attracting a younger, more open-minded demographic with these changes, the Episcopal Church’s dying has proceeded apace.”

It’s true that the Episcopal Church did go in a progressive direction, from being the first Christian church to approve the use of birth control in 1930, to consecrating women priests, to electing the first openly-gay bishop. And it’s also true that the church has seen a rapid decline in the US, but there’s no proof of cause-and-effect here. Some note that the culprit many be a “sharp decline in the birth rate among those descended from the British Isles or Northern Europe,” as well as the paucity of Episcopalians among the many immigrant groups who populate the U.S. The demographic picture for the Catholic Church wouldn’t look nearly as rosy if it weren’t for the fact that Hispanic immigrants to the U.S. are overwhelmingly Catholic.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 15 October 2015 (VIS) – The Holy Father has:

– appointed Rev. Luis Albeiro Maldonado Monsalve as bishop of Mocoa – Sibundoy (area 25,282, population 347,510, Catholics 300,200, priests 81, permanent deacons 4, religious 98), Colombia. The bishop-elect was born in Fredonia, Colombia in 1958 and ordained a priest in 1986. He holds a licentiate in spiritual theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, and has served as formator and spiritual director of the major seminary, professor and chaplain at the Pontifical Bolivarian University, parish priest and administrator of a priestly society. He is currently episcopal vicar of the diocese of Medellin, Colombia.

– appointed Bishop Titus Joseph Mdoe, auxiliary of the archdiocese of Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania, as bishop of Mtwara (area 7,780, population 884,000, Catholics 75,800, priests 41, religious 306), Tanzania. He succeeds Bishop Gabriel Mmole, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese upon reaching the age limit was accepted by the Holy Father.

– appointed Fr. Edgardo Cedeno Munoz, S.V.D., as bishop of Penonome (area 4,927, population 259,000, Catholics 210, 337, priests 25, religious 34), Panama. The bishop-elect was born in Panama City, Panama in 1960, took his religious vows in 1988 and was ordained a priest in 1989. He has served in a number of roles within his order including provincial superior, formator, provincial bursar, as well as chaplain and parish priest. He is currently pastor of the parish of the “Virgen de la Medalla Milagrosa” in Panama City.

– appointed Fr. George Desmond Tambala, O.C.D., as bishop of Zomba (area 3,232, population 822,450, Catholics 232,976, priests 42, religious 81), Malawi. The bishop-elect was born in Zomba, Malawi in 1968, gave his religious vows in 1991 and was ordained a priest in 1996. He holds a licentiate in theology, has served in a number of roles within his order, and has been a seminary professor and president of the Association of Superiors Major in Malawi. He is currently definitor general of the Carmelites.

– accepted the resignation from the office of auxiliary of Spis, Slovakia, presented by Bishop Andrej Imrich in accordance with canons 411 and 402 para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Oct. 15, 2015

VATICAN CITY
The group of German speaking prelates attending the worldwide meeting of Catholic bishops on family — which includes a rather diverse range of what might be called progressive and conservative voices — has called on the gathering to recognize that church doctrine has developed over time.

The group has also said the church’s understanding of Jesus’ mission on Earth means that there cannot always be one universal principle that applies to all concrete situations.

Writing in their report on the discussions taking place in their small group for the ongoing Oct. 4-25 Synod of Bishops, the German bishops say: “It … became clear to us that we are too static and not biographical-historical in many debates and observations.”

“The Church’s doctrine of marriage was developed and deepened in history,” they write.

The group explains how the church’s understanding of marriage has developed over time — first emphasizing monogamy of marriage, then “the personal dignity of the spouses” before coming to understand the family as the “house church.”

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ROME
Premier

Thu 15 Oct 2015
By Hannah Tooley

A Vatican expert says that some leading Catholics and right-wingers are uniting against Pope Francis.

A new book, The Enemies of Francis, has claimed a number of high-profile figures, such as former US Vice President Dick Cheney, have joined together to oppose what they see as the Pope’s liberal stance on issues from the environment to gay marriage.

The author, Nello Scavo, says that a range of powerful forces see the Pope as a threat due to his out spoken stance on everything from the arms trade to his role in the thawing of relations between the USA and Cuba.

He said: “This was one of the key breaking points. Both the political right and conservative Catholics were angered by it.”

It goes onto detail how some political interests have been actively plotting to undermine the Pope and says that “poised bait” has been set out for the Holy Father.

Those listed as against Francis include the Catholic lobbying group The Knights of Columbus.

Additionally Cardinal Timothy Dolan, The Archbishop of New York, is thought to be one of 13 Cardinals who has signed a letter claiming the current Synod on the family has been hijacked by liberal groups.

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ROME
Christian Today

Ruth Gledhill CHRISTIAN TODAY CONTRIBUTING EDITOR 15 October 2015

The Catholic Church moved closer to a split over homosexuality and marriage after divorce today after traditionalists called for a walk out by “faithful” bishops at the Synod on the Family in Rome.

The Twitter hashtag #synodwalkout quickly began trending after the conservative blog One Peter Five set up a change.org petition calling on the conservative cardinals and archbishops to stage a walkout. Within hours of being posted early this morning, the petition gained more than 1,600 signatures.

Observers in Rome and on social media began talking of “chaos”, and headlines such as “showdown in Rome” began to appear on well-informed conservative websites.

One Peter Five reports: “As the evidence mounts that the Synod’s outcome has been pre-determined, I have joined a number of other concerned Catholics in writing an open letter. In it, we request that those Synod fathers who are faithful to Christ’s teachings, if they continue to be thwarted in their efforts, walk out of the Synod before it is over rather than allow their participation be interpreted as support.”

The conservative blogger adds: “Even at this late hour, we must try to protect the faith.”

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NEW YORK
Queens Courier

BY ASSEMBLYWOMAN MARGARET MARKEY

We were all excited about the momentous visit of Pope Francis, but disappointed that overall, so little attention has been paid to the scourge of childhood sexual abuse — one of the most urgent topics of concern among so many New York Catholics.

The fight to address this issue in many states is directed at reform of archaic statute of limitations (SOLs) that restrict the time for victims to come forward and expose abusers and the organizations that hid or protected them. New York currently ranks among the very worst states in all of America for how it deals with victims — right at the bottom of all 50 states along with Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Indiana.

If a New York victim of child sex abuse doesn’t come forward within five years after their 18th birthday, they forever lose the opportunity to bring charges. Since research shows that many if not most abuse survivors do not come to grips with what happened to them until well into adulthood, if ever, that means that most victims never get justice and pedophiles remain free to abuse new generations of children.

My Child Victims Act of New York (A.2872A/S.63A) would completely eliminate the civil statute of limitations for child sex abuse in the future and get justice for older victims. Even though the measure has passed the Assembly four times, it has never come to the floor of the state Senate and the most vocal opponent of this reform is the New York Catholic Conference of Bishops.

I was encouraged by the strong message of the Holy Father to his Pontifical Commission earlier this year that there was no place in the ministry for abusers and his call for reconciliation and healing for past victims. He has backed up those views by creating a Vatican tribunal to hold bishops accountable for cover-ups and failure to prevent abuse.

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

10/14/20150

Jennifer Haselberger

On Monday, the Pioneer Press announced the 2015 winner of the Rowan Award, which is bestowed yearly by the Saint Paul Police Foundation in recognition of exceptional service in policing. The winner, Officer Jon Sherwood, is a twenty-nine year veteran assigned to the city’s East Side. What caught my eye, however, was the report of who was also nominated: Sergeant Eric Skog who, as the Pioneer Press notes, ‘who was assigned full-time to investigate sex abuse within the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’.

I am sure that those victims who reported their abuse to Sgt. Skog would willingly second his nomination for this award. When a victim contacted me to share his or her experience of abuse I never hesitated to suggest that they contact Sgt. Skog, and I heard time and time again of his patience and kindness once contact was established. More than one person reported that he was willing to listen to them and offer suggestions even if their abuse was outside of the SPPD jurisdiction or couldn’t be investigated for other reasons. This was important to many victims/ survivors because that openness was exactly what had been missing when they attempted to report their abuse to the Church.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Reuters

By Scott Malone October 15, 2015

Massachusetts’ top court on Wednesday ruled that parishioners who have staged a decade-long vigil aimed at stopping the closure of their Roman Catholic church are trespassing in violation of state laws.

St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Church is the last of a half-dozen Boston-area churches that parishioners occupied in opposition to a 2004 decision by the Archdiocese of Boston to close some 70 churches, as the clergy sex abuse scandal began to take a heavy toll on church finances.

A group of parishioners has occupied the 30-acre (12- hectare) property in waterfront Scituate, south of Boston, 24 hours a day, seven days a week since that time.

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on Wednesday upheld a June ruling by a state judge that found the parishioners were violating state laws and ordered an end to their long occupation.

“While we acknowledge the defendants’ heartfelt beliefs that they are entitled to remain on the premises as an exercise of their freedom of religion, the judge’s conclusion that the defendants are trespassers is supported by the evidence.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
Yahoo! News

BOSTON (Reuters) – Parishioners who have occupied their Massachusetts church for 11 years in an effort to prevent the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston from shuttering it are due to speak Thursday on a ruling by the state’s top court that they are trespassing.

Massachusetts’ Supreme Judicial Court on Wednesday upheld the ruling of a lower court earlier this year that found that parishioners of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini did not have the right to continue to occupy the church and told them to end their vigil.

The Archdiocese of Boston asked the parishioners to abide by the court’s ruling and end their occupation of the church, the last of a half-dozen parishes that were occupied after church officials in 2004 announced plans to close some 70 parishes as the clergy sex abuse scandal began to take a heavy toll on church finances.

A group of parishioners has occupied the 30-acre (12-hectare) property in waterfront Scituate, south of Boston, continuously since that time. Representatives for the group said on Wednesday they were still evaluating their options, which they would discuss with reporters on Thursday.

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CANADA
CTV

The Canadian Press
Published Thursday, October 15, 2015

HALDIMAN COUNTY, Ont. – Police have charged a former Catholic priest with a historical sexual assault investigation in southern Ontario.

Ontario Provincial police say they have been investigating an alleged sexual assault in 1975 involving a boy who was 13 years old at the time.

They say the alleged incident occurred while the accused was a priest at St. Stephen’s Roman Catholic Church in Cayuga, St. Kevin’s Roman Catholic Church in Welland and St. Thomas More Roman Catholic Church in Niagara Falls.

Donald Grecco, 75, of Peel Region is charged with one count of gross indecency and one count of indecent assault on a male.

Grecco was also charged three weeks ago with two charges of gross indecency and two charges of indecent assault on a male in alleged incidents that occurred between 1977 and 1982 involving two boys who were 10 and 14 years old at the time.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Candice Marcus

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has wrapped up in Adelaide after hearing harrowing accounts of abuse and cruelty at Salvation Army run children’s homes.

One of the men at the centre of the Salvation Army’s response is territorial commander Floyd Tidd, who sat through the seven-day hearing.

He spoke to reporter Candice Marcus on the final day of the hearing.

Q. Commissioner Tidd thanks for your time. You’ve delivered a comprehensive apology at the royal commission to the survivors, what is the Salvation Army’s message to the survivors?

The message to survivors is one of an unconditional apology, as I’ve listened again this week to the evidence and testimony given by survivors I’ve been deeply moved and deeply distressed.

These were children, they were all blameless and they suffered under the care of the Salvation Army and so I offer to each and every one of them, personally and also as the leader of the Salvation Army, an unreserved apology.

They should not have experienced that which was their reality.

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ROME
Chiesa

It is an article by Andrea Tornielli, the vaticanista friendliest with and closest to Bergoglio. It came out four days before the publication of the letter. To expose it and accuse the authors of conspiring against the pope

by Sandro Magister

ROME, October 15, 2015 – Since the letter of the thirteen cardinals to the pope became public knowledge, the Vatican authorities, through Fr. Federico Lombardi, have not passed up an opportunity to censure its publication and, more or less indirectly, its contents and authors.

The latest instance came yesterday, in the daily press conference accompanying the work of the synod, when the director of the Vatican press office took aim for the umpteenth time at “the fateful letter that has received much more attention than it deserves.”

But in that case it is right that the backstory of the publication of the letter from the thirteen cardinals should also be made known. A backstory that is absolutely not to be ignored, after which it became obligatory – for the sake of accurate information – to verify the real state of affairs, the contents of the letter and who had signed it.

The following post says it all.

It came out yesterday only in Italian on the blog “Settimo cielo.” And it appears again here translated into English, French, and Spanish. So that everybody gets it.

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CALIFORNIA
Santa Maria Sun

BY DAVID MINSKY

The criminal case against Shane Villalpando concluded in 2013, but now officials at St. Joseph High School—Villalpando’s former high school—are the targets of a lawsuit surrounding the former student’s behavior at the time.

Filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court in November 2014, the lawsuit alleges that administrators at the high school failed to report Villalpando’s “sexually deviant behavior and dangerous propensities” leading up to the alleged rape of a female St. Joseph student that occurred in June 2011.

Villalpando was convicted of three felony counts of unlawful sex with a minor in July 2013. The jury at the time couldn’t decide whether he was guilty of rape, but he nonetheless served a year in jail, and was required to register as a sex offender during the five-year term of probation he also received.

St. Joseph’s former dean of students John Walker, former principal Joseph Myers, current Principal Joanne Poloni, and the Rev. Ed Jalbert are listed as defendants in the current lawsuit. The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Los Angeles is listed as the principal defendant because St. Joseph falls under the purview of the Catholic Church.

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BELGIUM
Catholic Herald (UK)

by Jon Anderson
posted Thursday, 15 Oct 2015

Its Church is dogged by empty pews, scandals and a hierarchy beguiled by the latest social trends. Soon it could become little more than a heritage agency for ancient churches

Belgium is one of those countries that show in stark detail the problems facing the Catholic Church in the developed world. Like Ireland or Quebec, it is an example of a once intensely Catholic society where the faith has very rapidly collapsed. The same symptoms as elsewhere – empty churches, scandals, infighting, a hierarchy that passively goes along with current social trends – are as obvious in Belgium as anywhere else in Europe.

Yet the Belgian Church is still influential internationally. Cardinal Godfried Danneels, the retired primate of Belgium, is among the senior clerics appointed personally by Pope Francis to participate in the ongoing family synod. That is an interesting move, as Cardinal Danneels is much more radical on sexual issues than even the German bishops.

The 83-year-old is one of the Church’s great survivors, having been appointed an archbishop in 1979 and a cardinal in 1983. An ebullient character and formidable networker, his position on the Church’s extreme liberal fringe has not prevented him being a pillar of the College of Cardinals, to the point where commentators were naming him as a possible papal candidate in 2005. He has also been enjoying a very active retirement, so it would have been a surprise if he hadn’t been at the synod.

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NEW YORK
Observer-Dispatch

By Alissa Scott

Posted Oct. 14, 2015

They call it a counseling session. And it takes place in what usually is a sacred space — the sanctuary of a church.

Members of the Word of Life Christian Church conducted one of these sessions Sunday night for brothers Lucas and Christopher Leonard.

This one turned deadly.

“It was explained to us that a counseling session is when a pastor sits down with a member of the church to discuss their spiritual state,” New Hartford Police Chief Michael Inserra said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon. “Both brothers were continuously subjected to physical punishment over several hours in hopes that each would confess their prior sins and ask for forgiveness.”

During that session, at least six members of the church — two of them the brothers’ parents — beat the teens for hours, police said. It ended in the death of 19-year-old Lucas and in serious injuries to Christopher, 17.

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ROME
The Irish Catholic

by Cathal Barry
October 15, 2015

The leader of the Church in Ireland has said it would be a “mistake” for the Synod of Bishops to overlook the “shattering” effects of clerical child sex abuse on families.

Archbishop Eamon Martin criticised the synod’s working document which he claimed had “failed to recognise the awful shattering of family life that can be caused by abuse”.

The Archbishop of Armagh made his remarks to The Irish Catholic from Rome following his own personal intervention at the Synod on the Family which focused primarily on the issue of sexual abuse and domestic violence.

Archbishop Eamon admitted that his “very deliberate intervention” had “undoubtedly been influenced” by the experience of the Church in Ireland.

“The Church in Ireland has become very painfully aware of the impact of abuse in what I call our family of families which is the Church and through that we have become very aware of the horrific reality of abuse.

– See more at: http://www.irishcatholic.ie/article/%E2%80%98mistake%E2%80%99-overlook-abuse-%E2%80%93-primate#sthash.0LOR7ebl.dpuf

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NEW JERSEY
The Record

OCTOBER 14, 2015

BY ABBOTT KOLOFF AND MONSY ALVARADO
THE RECORD

Archbishop John J. Myers on Wednesday defended a letter he recently sent to priests, saying it was misinterpreted, while even conservatives said they found it confusing, and some North Jersey Catholics said it led them to feel more alienated from their church.

In the letter, Myers called on Catholics to refrain from receiving Holy Communion if they are in a marriage that is not recognized by the church or if they publicly oppose any of the church’s teachings. He also said all Catholics should avoid events that “endorse or support” people or groups that reject or ignore those teachings.

Myers, the leader of the Archdiocese of Newark, issued the letter quietly to pastors after signing it on Sept. 22. That was the day Pope Francis arrived in Cuba on his way to the United States, where the pontiff expanded on a message of inclusiveness that has been the hallmark of his papacy. The letter was made public Wednesday as 270 bishops from around the world met at the Vatican to discuss ways to adapt church teachings in a changing world, including such issues as whether to welcome gays and lesbians or allow remarried couples who have not been granted annulments to receive sacraments.

As even some conservatives called into question its timing, Myers said through a spokesman that the letter had been “taken wildly out of context by many — some viewing it as a challenge or a ‘setting of the agenda.’Ÿ”

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UNITED STATES
Esquire

​BY CHARLES P. PIERCE

Now, we’ve got the real thing brewing over at the Vatican. Somewhere in the crypts of Rome, poisoners, stranglers, libertines, students of Machiavelli, and other long-dead clerical errors from the good old days are feeling smiles crack the dessicated bones of their faces. This is old-school Catholic treachery. Grappa for the house, and see what the Borgias in the back room will have!​

In the letter, the senior churchmen said that if the reformers succeeded in changing the church’s approach to modern families it could send the Catholic Church down the path of Protestant denominations that abandoned “key elements of Christian belief and practice in the name of pastoral adaptation.”… In recent months, and with growing intensity since the synod opened, conservatives have accused reformers of “rigging” the synod and of engaging in skullduggery and various media “manipulations” to achieve changes—charges the letter from the cardinals seemed to support. “A number of fathers feel the new process seems designed to facilitate predetermined results on important disputed questions,” says the letter, which was reportedly given to Francis on Oct. 5, the second day of the synod, by Australian Cardinal George Pell, a top curial official and vocal opponent of reforms. The letter reprises complaints that many bishops here have made: that the working document that is the basis of the discussions is flawed, that the bishops are trying to debate too many critical issues in too short a time, and that the group of 10 bishops picked by Francis to write a final summary report is skewed to the progressive side and instead should have been elected by the entire group.

Obviously, ‘Fi were in the Chair of Peter, at least the Vatican officials who signed this document would soon find themselves reassigned to various Arctic parishes. This is not that kind of pope and, frankly, as a longtime supporter of collegiality in the governance of the Church, I can’t criticize the pack o’ scoundrels who signed this thing too critically on principle. But it is lovely to watch the people scream who’ve rigged every synod since John Paul II was elected. And they are an interesting bunch. To the surprise of absolutely nobody, many of them have track records on the worldwide scandal of clergy sexual abuse that are less than stellar. The apparent ringleader, Pell from Australia, has the stench of the scandal clinging to him to this day.

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CANADA
Hamilton Spectator

A disgraced former Roman Catholic priest, jailed in 2010 for sexually abusing three altar boys, now faces sex charges involving three other victims.

Ontario Provincial Police in Haldimand County have charged Donald Grecco, 75, of Peel Region, with gross indecency and indecent assault on a male after another victim came forward to report sex assaults which occurred in Niagara Region in 1975 when the victim was about 13 years old.

Grecco will face the latest charges on Tuesday, Dec. 8 in provincial court in Cayuga.

Over the past several months, police have been investigating a series of sexual assaults which had occurred between 1975 to 1982 involving young males. The assaults occurred at locations in Niagara Region, Haldimand County and the United States.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC NI

By Vincent Kearney
BBC News NI Home Affairs Correspondent

Paddy Monaghan was sent from a children’s home in Northern Ireland to Australia in the 1940s.
As a boy, he was told all his relatives were dead. Now, after more than 40 years of searching, he has found them – alive and well in County Fermanagh.

Paddy Monaghan’s face breaks into a wide grin when I ask how it feels to have found his family after more than 40 years of searching.

“It feels great. I’ve always longed to be able to have somebody with my blood in them. I didn’t think it was ever going to happen,” he said.

I first met Paddy in Perth, Australia, while working for BBC Northern Ireland’s Spotlight programme . …

He had visited Ireland, but the Sisters of Nazareth repeatedly told him he had been an orphan and that they could find no records of his mother.

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CANADA
Daily Courier

HALDIMAN COUNTY, Ont. – Police have charged a former Catholic priest with a historical sexual assault investigation in southern Ontario.

Ontario Provincial police say they have been investigating an alleged sexual assault in 1975 involving a boy who was 13 years old at the time.

They say the alleged incident occurred while the accused was a priest at St. Stephen’s Roman Catholic Church in Cayuga, St. Kevin’s Roman Catholic Church in Welland and St. Thomas More Roman Catholic Church in Niagara Falls.

Donald Grecco, 75, of Peel Region is charged with one count of gross indecency and one count of indecent assault on a male.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Oct. 14

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

A Florida bishop is putting a credibly accused abusive cleric back in a parish. We are deeply worried about the safety of the priest’s colleagues, neighbors and flock.

[Naples Daily News]

Diocese of Venice Bishop Frank Dewane is acting recklessly and callously. If he insists on putting Fr. Leo Riley back on the job, we would hope it would be in prison ministry or a desk job, not in a parish. We’re disturbed that Dewane is putting Fr. Riley back St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Church on Rattlesnake Hammock Road in Naples.

Dewane also claims Fr. Riley took a lie detector test. We challenge him to make those test results public. If he doesn’t, we can’t put much validity in this claim.

Our hearts ache for Jeff Buchheit and anyone else who has been hurt by Fr. Riley. We beg anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered wrongdoing or crimes by this priest to call police, expose wrongdoers, protect kids and start healing.

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UNITED STATES
Huffington Post

Massimo Faggioli
Professor of History of Christianity, University of St. Thomas

The letter sent to Pope Francis by a group of cardinals on Monday, October 12 should be seen for what it is. It is not a question of the substance or method of the work of the Synod, but an attack on the legitimacy of the direction Pope Francis is taking the Church, and therefore an attack on the Pope himself.

Published (in circumstances yet to be clarified) by Sandro Magister, L’Espresso magazine’s Vatican reporter, the letter was signed by about a dozen high-level Church officials from around the world. At the moment, the list of the actual names of the signatories is fluctuating: The list published Monday night (EST) by America, a Catholic weekly magazine published by Jesuits in the United States, reports the following names: Caffarra (Archbishop of Bologna), Collins (Archbishop of Toronto), DiNardo (Archbishop of Houston), Dolan (Archbishop of New York), Eijk (Archbishop of Utrecht), Müller (Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith), Napier (Archbishop of Durban, South Africa), Njue (Archbishop of Nairobi, Kenya), Pell (Prefect of the Vatican Secretariat for the Economy), Rivera Carrera (Archbishop of Mexico City), Sarah (Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship), Sgreccia (President Emeritus of the Pontifical Academy for Life) and Urosa Savino (Archbishop of Caracas, Venezuela).

However, it is possible that there are different versions of the same letter, other signatories, or even (possibly) other officials whose names were signed without their knowledge (four cardinals, Erdö, Scola, Piacenza and Vignt-Trois, denied signing yesterday.)

This is the boldest and most visible move in the ecclesiastical establishment’s conflict with Pope Francis. Since March 2013, there has been a sense of mounting resistance to the pontificate, with the Synod of Bishops being the focal point. The fact that the letter was sent to the Pope on October 5, the first day of the Synod, is proof that it was an initiative coordinated well before the commencement of the assembly in Rome (and it is this initiative that Francis referred to in his speech about the “hermeneutic of conspiracy” on October 6 in the Synod Hall). It is also clear that while Francis was visiting America, certain American bishops –when they were not busy embracing the Pope– were preparing an attack on Francis that they would never have dreamed of launching against Pope John Paul II or Pope Benedict XVI.

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UNITED STATES
Pacific Sun

by David Templeton

“It’s an American tragedy, plain and simple.”

On opening night of the Mill Valley Film Festival, director Tom McCarthy peers, spotlight-blinded, into the audience at the crammed-to-the-limit Cinéarts Sequoia theater, in Mill Valley. The audience has just watched a special advance screening of McCarthy’s Spotlight, a riveting, expertly crafted drama about The Boston Globe reporters who cracked the case in 2001, shining a different kind of spotlight onto the Catholic Church’s now infamous cover-up of 70 Boston priests accused, in the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s, of serial child molestation and other abuses.

The film features bravura performances by Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber, Stanley Tucci and Billy Crudup. With Spotlight, McCarthy—who premiered his critically acclaimed The Station Agent at the festival in 2003—beautifully rebounds from the mega-disaster of last year’s The Cobbler, an Adam Sandler comedy so badly calibrated it made people wonder why McCarthy wanted anything to do with it.

Judging from the audience’s emotional, thunderous reception to Spotlight, all is clearly forgiven, and over the course of a quick, 10-minute conversation after the film, it’s clear that the film will be sparking similar conversations all over the country when it is released to the public in mid-November.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY CORKY SIEMASZKO

Members of a secretive upstate New York church determined to get two brothers to “confess their sins” beat one of the teenagers to death and badly brutalized the other, police said Wednesday.

And among those now charged with killing Lucas Leonard, 19, and injuring his 17-year-old brother Christopher, during a “counseling session” at the Word of Life Church, are his parents and a sister, they said.

“During the counseling session, the session turned physical,” said Chief Michael Inserra of the New Hartford, N.Y., police.

Over the course of several hours, the brothers were ordered to “confess to prior sins and ask for forgiveness,” the chief said. “We have not determined what this punishment was for.”

But, said Inserra, “we know there were fists and feet involved” in the punishment.

Inserra spoke a day after the victim’s parents, Bruce and Deborah Leonard, were charged with first-degree manslaughter and police revealed that their sons had been brutally beaten on their genitals, abdomens, backs and thighs.

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NEW YORK
WSYR

NEW HARTFORD (WSYR-TV)

New Hartford Police offered new details about their investigation into the beating death of one boy and the serious injury of another at the Word of Life Church building in Chadwicks on Wednesday.

Police say 19-year-old Lucas Leonard and 17-year-old Christopher Leonard were both severely beaten “over the course of hours” in the church sanctuary.

The teens’ parents, 65-year-old Bruce Leonard and 59-year-old Deborah Leonard, have been charged with manslaughter in connection with Lucas’ death.

Their sister, Sarah Ferguson, has been charged with assault.

Three other members of the Word of Life Church have also been charged with assault, including David and Linda Morey, and Joseph Irwin.

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NEW YORK
Las Vegas Review-Journal

Reuters

The parents of a New York teenager were charged on Tuesday with his beating death inside an upstate church, and four church members were accused of assaulting the couple’s younger son, police said.

Lucas Leonard, 19, died of blunt force trauma to his body after being attacked inside the Word of Life Church in New Hartford, New York, about 50 miles (80 kms) east of Syracuse, authorities said.

A joint investigation by the New Hartford police and the New York State Police determined that a second victim, Leonard’s 17-year-old brother had also been assaulted. He was in serious condition at a local hospital, a press release said.

“Several church members were interviewed throughout the day and night, and several children were secured from the church and turned over to Oneida County Child Protective Services,” it said. Police have not released a motive for the attack.

A woman who lives near the church, Julie Howard, told local broadcaster WKTV “there’s always been weird things going on.” She said this included visits by the police and what she described as the breeding of dogs in the building.

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NEW YORK
CBS News

[with video]

NEW HARTFORD, N.Y. — Brutal beatings that left one teenager dead and his brother seriously injured Monday at a New York church were part of what members considered a “counseling session,” according to police.

New Hartford Police Chief Michael Inserra said Wednesday that both Lucas and Christopher Leonard were subjected to hours of physical punishment at the Word of Life Church “in hopes that each would confess to prior sins and ask for forgiveness.”

Inserra says investigators are still looking into what the supposed sins were. He said there’s no indication, at this point, that the issue was sexual assault.

Nineteen-year-old Lucas Leonard died. Seventeen-year-old Christopher is hospitalized in serious condition.

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VATICAN CITY
New York Times

By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO

OCT. 14, 2015

VATICAN CITY — Amid a three-week conference of hundreds of bishops on family issues, Pope Francis issued an unusual and unexpected public apology on Wednesday for scandals that have bedeviled the church.

“I would like to ask for forgiveness in the name of the church for the scandals that have happened in this last period both in Rome and at the Vatican,” the pope told assembled faithful as he opened his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square.

“I ask for your forgiveness,” he said humbly.

The pope did not say which scandals he was referring to, but even just in recent days, there has been no shortage of headline-grabbing news to distract from the Synod of Bishops, which is in the middle of a divisive, three-week discussion of issues like the church’s approach to gays and to divorced Catholics who remarry without obtaining an annulment.

Last week, in a step seemingly timed to the synod, a Vatican official publicly announced he was gay, while issuing a denunciation of homophobia within the church. He was dismissed.

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VATICAN CITY
The Journal (Ireland)

POPE FRANCIS HAS offered a surprise public apology from the Catholic Church for a series of scandals which have shaken the city of Rome and the Vatican, from gay sex to drug use.

The Vatican has been the focus of several controversies including the coming out of a gay priest and the leaking of a controversial letter, while reports have emerged in Rome of drug-popping priests frequenting male prostitutes.

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

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

Vatican expert Joshua McElwee, writing in the National Catholic Reporter, described it as an “extraordinary step”.

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MALTA
Deutsche Welle

A Catholic priest in the largely Catholic country was officially accused on Wednesday of sexually abusing three teenage boys between 2010 and 2013.

The 44-year-old, Donald Bellizzi, the current chaplain of the airport chapel, pleaded not guilty to the charges. The court rejected his lawyer’s request for bail.

Bellizzi is accused of sexually abusing three boys who attended a group encouraging them to join the priesthood. The boys, who were minors at the time, are now between the ages of 18 and 19 years old, German news agency dpa reported.

The Maltese Church Safegaurding Commission confirmed the case in an online statement, saying they immediately passed the complaint on to police. In the past, the Catholic Chuch had sought to deal with such issues internally without law enforcement.

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FLORIDA
Naples Daily News

Ryan Mills
Oct 14, 2015

NAPLES, Fla. – An East Naples priest who was cleared of wrongdoing in a sexual abuse investigation and reinstated during the summer has returned to his church following a leave of absence.

Rev. Leo Riley, 59, returned to St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Church on Rattlesnake Hammock Road and has been celebrating mass there since Oct. 1, said Susan Laielli, a spokeswoman for the Diocese of Venice.

Riley received a standing ovation from the parish upon his return, said Pat Campagne, a member of St. Peter.

“He’s back and we all got hugs from him,” she said. “He’s a wonderful priest. And he has a great, great way of delivering a homily. We feel blessed to have him.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Business Journal

David Harris
Associate editor, Digital
Boston Business Journal

A Massachusetts Appeals Court sided with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese on Wednesday, ruling against former parishioners of a Scituate church who have maintained an around-the-clock vigil in the church ever since it was supposed to close in 2004.

The judge’s decision reaffirms an earlier judgement against the parishioners from St. Frances X. Cabrini Church in Scituate, which was scheduled to close 11 years ago. The defendants in the case are former parishioners of the church who have maintained an around-the-clock, seven-days-per-week vigil.

In February 2015, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Boston notified the parishioners that they must end their vigil and leave the church or face legal action. The parishioners refused to leave and the Archdiocese instituted this action for declaratory and injunctive relief. Following a bench trial before a judge in the Superior Court, a judge declared those parishioners “to be trespassers and permanently enjoining them from entering on church property,” according to court documents.

The parishioners argued that the judge in the original ruling made several “erroneous pretrial rulings, including denying their motion to dismiss and declining their demand for a jury trial.” They also “further contend that facts found by the judge in support of the trespass claim were clearly erroneous.”

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UNITED STATES
The New York Times

INTRODUCTION

Pope Francis had to backtrack after he outraged the victims of pedophile clerics by speaking sympathetically, during his trip to the United States, about how the scandal had affected bishops and priests. Then, last week, a video was broadcast showing him calling the residents of a Chilean town “dumb” for protesting a bishop who has been accused of being complicit in the crimes one abusive priest.

Is Pope Francis taking the scandal seriously enough? Has he properly addressed problems of thousands of victims of priestly abuse and the concerted efforts of church officials to cover up?

DEBATERS

WILLIAM DAILEY
The Rev. William Dailey, C.S.C., is the Thomas More fellow of the Center for Ethics and Culture at the University of Notre Dame, and a lecturer at Notre Dame Law School.

KATHERINE GALLAGHER
Katherine Gallagher is a senior attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights, where she has represented the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. She is on Twitter.

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ROME
Crux

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Register

by EDWARD PENTIN 10/13/2015

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

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

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

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

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

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VATICAN CITY
John Thavis

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

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

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

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

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

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

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Oct. 14, 2015

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

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

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

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

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

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

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

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

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

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NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

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

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

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

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

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

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VATICAN CITY
BBC News

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

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

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

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

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

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MALTA
Times of Malta

by Matthew Xuereb

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

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

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

CHARGES BEING ‘STRONGLY CONTESTED’

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

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

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MALTA
Malta Today

Matthew Agius 14 October 2015

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

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

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

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

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

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ROME
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Oct. 14

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[National Catholic Reporter]

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

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MINNESOTA
City Pages

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

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

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

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ROME
dotCommonweal

Grant Gallicho
October 14, 2015

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

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

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

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

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Spectator

Damian Thompson

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

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

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

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

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VIRGINIA/TEXAS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, October 12, 2015

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

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

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

[WTVR]

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

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

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

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MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Oct. 9

Dear Bishop Johnson:

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

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

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

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

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Oct. 14

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

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

[New York Times]

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

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

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

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

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VATICAN CITY
HNGN

By Peter de Jesus | Oct 14, 2015

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

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

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

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

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UNITED STATES
Wall Street Journal

By NATHALIE TADENA
Oct. 13, 2015

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

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

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

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

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

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UNITED STATES
National Survivor Advocates Coalition

EDITORIAL

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

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

[Wall Street Journal]

Take a listen to the USCCB communication’s officer:

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

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

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

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

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ITALIA
Huffington Post

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

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

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

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VATICAN CITY
euronews

By Philip Pullella

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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VATICAN CITY
Straits Times

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

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

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

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

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

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VATICAN CITY
First Post

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

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

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

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

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

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

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VATICAN CITY
Voice of America

VOA News
October 14, 2015 7:29 AM

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

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

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

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

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VATICAN CITY
CBS News

AP

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

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

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

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

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

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

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VATICAN CITY
America Magazine

Gerard O’Connell | Oct 14 2015

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

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

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

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

14 October, 2015

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

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

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

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

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

4. Any related matters.

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

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NEW JERSEY
The Record

BY JEFF GREEN
STAFF WRITER | THE RECORD

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

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

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

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

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

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Candice Marcus

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

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

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

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

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

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

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UNITED KINGDOM
Burton Mail

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

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

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

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

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

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IRELAND
Galway Independent

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

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

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

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

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CANADA
VOCM

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

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

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

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MINNESOTA
WDAY

By Jennie Lissarrague & Tyler Berg, KSTP TV Today

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

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

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

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

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UNITED STATES
Questions from a Ewe

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

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

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

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

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

Him: (deer in headlights look….)

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

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

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

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

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

Him: (stunned look)

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

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

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

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TEXAS
WRIC

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

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

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

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TEXAS/VIRGINIA
WTVR

BY SANDRA JONES

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

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

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

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

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TEXAS/VIRGINIA
Richmond Times-Dispatch

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

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

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

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

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

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

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Madeleine Baran Oct 13, 2015

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

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

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

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

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

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

MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Associated Press OCTOBER 13, 2015

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MINNESOTA
Fox 9

By: Mike Durkin
POSTED:OCT 13 2015

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

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

Charges listed in the lawsuit include:

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

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

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.

ROME
Washington Post

By David Gibson October 13

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

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

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

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MINNESOTA
KAAL

By: Jennie Lissarrague

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

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

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

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

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.