ABUSE TRACKER

NEW HAMPSHIRE
USA Today

John Bacon, USA TODAY August 20, 2015

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

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

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

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

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NEW JERSEY
Ring of Fire

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

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

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

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

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VIRGINIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Aug. 19

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

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

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

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

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

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

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UNITED STATES
Religion News Service

Christine Wicker | August 18, 2015

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

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

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

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

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
Town and Country

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

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

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

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

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OREGON
KGW

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

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

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

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

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

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NEW JERSEY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Aug. 19

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

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

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

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

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

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

[NJ.com]

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

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

AAP

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

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

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

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

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

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AUSTRALIA
New South Wales Police Force

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

Thursday, 20 August 2015 05:34:59 PM

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

He was charged with a number of offences, including:

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

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

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OREGON
KPTV

By FOX 12 Staff

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

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

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

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

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

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OREGON
The Oregonian

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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TENNESSEE
Memphis Flyer

POSTED BY BIANCA PHILLIPS ON WED, AUG 19, 2015

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

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

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

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TENNESEE
WREG

AUGUST 19, 2015, BY GEORGE BROWN

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

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

This allegedly happened between August 2014 and May 2015.

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

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

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TENNESSEE
WMC

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

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

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

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

Davis said her young son visited Oak Hill often.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Bolton News

Andrew Bardsley, reporter / Wednesday 19 August 2015

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

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

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

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

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

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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SCOTLAND
Highland News

Written by Eilidh Davies

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

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

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

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

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CALIFORNIA
Santa Barbara Independent

Thursday, August 20, 2015
by NICK WELSH

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

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

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NEW ZEALAND
Fiji Village

By Swastika Singh
Thursday 20/08/2015

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

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

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

He knew both through family and friends.

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

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NEW ZEALAND
Stuff

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

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

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

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

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

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Kate Aubusson
Journalist

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

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

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

The teen arrived in Australia in July 2014 and moved in with the priest at a church in Sydney’s inner west.
Advertisement

At the time, sex crimes squad detectives and the AFP formed Strike Force Zama to investigate allegations concerning the priest’s behaviour.

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MISSOURI
National Catholic Reporter

Elizabeth A. Elliott | Aug. 19, 2015

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

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

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

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

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Exchange

KEVIN O’BRIEN

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

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

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

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

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WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette

By Brian Lee
Telegram & Gazette Staff

Posted Aug. 19, 2015

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

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

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

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

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

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

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NEW JERSEY
New Jersey 101.5

By Dino Flammia August 19, 2015

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

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

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

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

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

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

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UNITED STATES
Gawker

Ashley Feinberg

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

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

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

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

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

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OREGON
Catholic Sentinel

Ed Langlois
Of the Catholic Sentinel

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

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

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

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

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

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OREGON
KOIN

Amy Frazier and KOIN 6 News Staff

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

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

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

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

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

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UNITED STATES
The Trentonian

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
Chicago Tribune

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

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

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

The girl responded that she had no recollection of that.

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

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

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NEW JERSEY
Daily Mail (UK)

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

By KIRI BLAKELEY FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

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

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

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

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

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
The New York Times

By JESS BIDGOOD
AUG. 19, 2015

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

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

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

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

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

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SCHOTTLAND
kath.ch

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

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

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SCHOTTLAND
Katholisch

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

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

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DEUTSCHLAND
NOZ

[Many open questions after abuse scandal.]

Von Carola Alge

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

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

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DEUTSCHLAND
NOZ

{Meppener priest abused a boy in home.]

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

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

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ECUADOR
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Aug. 19

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

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

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

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

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

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

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WEST VIRGINIA
Logan Banner

By Fred Pace
fpace@civitasmedia.com

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

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

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

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

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

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

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NEW JERSEY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Aug. 19

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

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

[NJ.com]

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

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

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

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OREGON
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Aug. 19

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

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

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

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

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

[NJ.com].

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

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

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

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

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

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

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OREGON
The Oregonian

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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DAVID EDWARDS
19 AUG 2015

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

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

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

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

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

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

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

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

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

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

[with video]

By LYNNE TUOHY

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A teenage girl who accused a senior at an elite New Hampshire prep school of raping her last year told jurors Wednesday that she felt “frozen” when he became aggressive.

The accuser testified that Owen Labrie, of Tunbridge, Vermont, bit her breast and tried to pull her underwear off in a building at St. Paul’s School two days before his graduation in 2014. On the witness stand, the girl said she was in pain when he bit her and during intercourse but said nothing to Labrie, who was 18 at the time. She was a 15-year-old freshman.

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

Prosecutors have said the rape occurred as part of a tradition at St. Paul’s called “Senior Salute” in which seniors try to have sex with underclassmen.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
NBC News

[with video]

by JON SCHUPPE

A 16-year-old girl who says she was raped at a prestigious New Hampshire prep school returned to the witness stand on Wednesday, describing a secret date with an older boy that turned suddenly aggressive.

The girl described her confusion as he groped her in secluded room of a campus building at St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire. “I felt like I was frozen,” she said through tears as she described the accused, Owen Labrie, kissing and biting her and trying to pull down her underwear.

As the groping continued, she said, “I felt like I had no control. I felt like I couldn’t say no.”

At one point, the girl said, she did say no. But as the alleged attack continued, she said she tried to zone out, looking at the ceiling and trying to ignore the pain.

“I didn’t want to believe that this was happening to me,” the girl said under questioning from Deputy Merrimack County Attorney Catherine Ruffle.

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NORTH CAROLINA
StarNews

By F.T. Norton
StarNews Staff
Published: Wednesday, August 19, 2015

NEW HANOVER COUNTY — A former youth pastor was arrested this week on a sexual assault allegation from 2013.

Donald Dwayne Ramsey, 45, is charged with felony second-degree sexual offense. He was arrested July 24 at his home in Wapakoneta, Ohio, on the New Hanover County warrant.

New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office investigators picked Ramsey up from Ohio on Sunday, said Sgt. Jerry Brewer.

According to Brewer, Ramsey was a youth pastor at Peace Baptist Church on Military Cutoff Road.

The alleged offense took place while Ramsey was working in his capacity as youth pastor and at a time when he was supposed to be taking the 16-year-old female victim to the church, Brewer said.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Angela Lavoipierre

The number of people enrolled in child safe training with the advocacy group Bravehearts has increased almost six-fold since the royal commission into child sexual abuse was announced in late 2012.

The programs teach adults how to spot and respond to child sexual abuse.

“We’re getting organisations across the board — sporting, church, commercial organisations — ringing us up,” said Bravehearts chief executive Hetty Johnston.

“[They’re] saying, ‘We need some help, we need to know all about this issue, we need to make sure that as we’re up the frontline with these children, that we’re going to be responding appropriately if ever this issues come home to roost in our organisation’.”

In 2011, Bravehearts trained 375 people in how to better identify and respond to child sexual abuse as well as other types of harm experienced by children, such as bullying.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Michael Sean Winters | Aug. 19, 2015

We are more than two years into the papacy of Pope Francis. The entire nation is focused on his upcoming visit to the United States, which will begin exactly one month from Saturday. In DC, I can assure you, the begging and the shoving and the cajoling to get tickets to one of the papal events is unlike anything I have ever seen. So, it is a good time to discern what are the most important themes in this pontificate, what are the areas of continuity and discontinuity from previous pontificates, and where is Pope Francis leading the Church at this moment in time. Or put differently, who is this man who is coming to America next month?

Today, I kick off a series of columns that will set the table for the pope’s visit. Today, I explore what I think is the over-arching theme of this pontificate, and tomorrow, I will examine how that one large theme plays out in six, smaller sub-themes. Friday, we will dig down on what we can expect specifically from his talks – and more than the talks, from the gestures – in the U.S. Next week I will examine how the pope challenges both the Catholic Left and the Catholic Right.

I discern one overarching theme to this pontificate, with several subheadings, and a second major theme that has not been much remarked upon. The overarching theme is this: The Church has become too self-referential and worldly, and this has crippled its ability to evangelize, to spread the Good News, to be the graced sacrament where people encounter the Risen Lord, leaving the Church sick or irrelevant or both, and the antidote is a Church of encounter, especially at the margins, after the model of Jesus. That, in one sentence, is the essence of this pontificate and he returns to this theme again and again. Just last month, in one of his morning sermons, the Holy Father recalled Jesus throwing the money changers out of the temple and he said:

The people who went on a pilgrimage there to implore the blessing of our Lord, to make a sacrifice: Those people there were exploited! The priests were not teaching them to pray or giving them a catechesis… it was a den of thieves…. I don’t know… maybe we’d do well to reflect on whether we encounter similar things going on in some places. It’s using God’s things for our own profit.

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KENTUCKY
WAVE

By Katie Bauer

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) – A Louisville Archdiocese accountant was about to be indicted for stealing half a million dollars from three parishes, but the case was halted.

The woman at the center of all, Lisa Roth, took her own life on July 6th, the same week an audit was set to occur.

The Fayette County Coroner’s Office in Lexington confirmed that Roth, 60, had committed suicide.

Archdiocese officials said they’re using the case as a wakeup call. When it comes to handling church funds, there are specific policies in place.

“We have very clear written procedures about how money is — cash or non cash gifts are treated, everything from how it is counted, recorded and deposited,” Archdiocese Chancellor Dr. Brian Reynolds said.

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KENTUCKY
Lex 18

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) A court case in Louisville was halted after a Louisville Archdiocese accountant took her own life on July 6.

The accountant, Lisa Roth, was about to be indicted for allegedly stealing half a million dollars from three parishes.

The Fayette County Coroner’s office in Lexington confirmed that Roth, 60, had committed suicide, the week she was supposed to be audited.

Archdiocesan officials said that there are specific policies in place for handling church funds, and they are using this case as a wakeup call.

“We have very clear written procedures about how money is – cash or no cash gifts are treated, everything from how it is counted, recorded and deposited,” Archdiocese Chancellor Dr. Brian Reynolds told Wave 3 reporter.

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FIJI
Fiji Broadcasting Corporation

A fifty four year old priest of Lautoka has been acquitted of rape by the Lautoka High Court.

It was alleged that in 2011 at Balevuto in Ba, Jagdish Sharma allegedly raped the complaint after entering her home through a window one evening before making her drink beer.

During the cross examination, the complainant admitted consenting to sex and stated she only reported the matter out of anger.

The complainant also admitted that she knew the accused from childhood and they have been friends for many years since they were born in the same village.

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NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

By Mark Mueller | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on August 19, 2015

In an extraordinary admission of wrongdoing, a priest sought by authorities in New Jersey has acknowledged engaging in a sexual encounter with a 15-year-old boy, but he deflected blame for the incident by saying the teen “wanted” it and had “evil in his mind.”

In a telephone interview with NJ Advance Media, in email exchanges and in a lengthy post he shared publicly on Twitter, the Rev. Manuel Gallo Espinoza said it was a “mistake” to have sexual contact with the boy in the rectory of a Plainfield church in 2003. He said he fled to his native Ecuador after the victim told a nun and another priest that Gallo Espinoza raped him.

“One thing that I am conscious (of) is he was at that time a teenager, and it is a big mistake for me. But I didn’t force him to do anything he didn’t want,” Gallo Espinoza wrote. “He was older (sic) enough to walk away, but I think that I was attracted to him, that is the only explanation that I can think right now.”

Gallo Espinoza added: “He had something evil in his mind. He approached me many times.”

The 51-year-old priest, who was not questioned by detectives in 2003 because he could not be located, is now the subject of a criminal investigation by the Union County Prosecutor’s Office.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Culture

By Phil Lawler
Aug 18, 2015

Karl Keating, the founder of Catholic Answers, raises an interesting question: A New Pope in 2016? This is not a prediction, he emphasizes; it’s a sort of mental exercise.

Pope Francis has referred to the resignation of his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, as “a beautiful gesture of nobility, of humility and courage,” Keating reminds readers. Last year the Pontiff told reporters that he expected his own pontificate “will last a short time: two or three years.” In 2016, he will have been Pope for three years.

(It is not clear whether Pope Francis meant to say that he would serve for a total of 2-3 years, or for 2-3 years past the time when he made that statement in 2014, which was already one year into his papacy. But even if he meant the latter, Keating observes, “Two years from 2014 is 2016.”)

But that’s not the only reason why Keating wonders if 2016 could bring another papal resignation. Pope Francis, he recalls, was elected with the expectation that he would bring reform to the Vatican. He has certainly changed the public image of the papacy, and under the guidance Cardinal Pell, the Vatican’s finances have finally been brought under rational control. But as for the Roman Curia, Keating judges: “Two-and-a-half years into Francis’s papacy, not much seems to have changed.”

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PERU
Malay Mail

LIMA, Aug 18 — Peru’s leading newspaper said it will no longer publish editorials by the cardinal and archbishop of Lima after accusing him of plagiarising past popes in his articles.

The suspect stories have also been taken down from the website of El Comercio “because the newspaper does not publish articles in which the text is signed by someone but in reality written by another,” the publication said.

An investigation by the Peruvian website Utero.pe revealed last week that Juan Luis Cipriani had copied portions of the book Communio, written by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before he became Pope Benedict XVI, and of the encyclical Ecclesiam Suam, written by Pope Paul VI in two of his editorials.

The revelations unleashed a flood of social media criticism against Cipriani, a prominent conservative and member of Opus Dei.

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

08/18/2015

Jennifer Haselberger

Last Friday, Curtis Wehmeyer, once a priest of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, pleaded guilty to third degree sexual assault in Chippewa County, Wisconsin. Wehmeyer, who is currently serving a five-year sentence at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Lino Lakes, was sentenced to an additional three years in prison followed by three years of supervised release.

Sadly, Friday’s guilty plea and sentencing arose from charges that in 2011 Wehmeyer sexually assaulted a teenage boy after the teen had passed out after drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana provided to him by Wehmeyer. The teen victim is the older brother of the two victims who were abused beginning in 2010.

Those who have been following the abuse cases involving Wehmeyer will recall that in May of 2011, presumably before the camping trip in Wisconsin, Father Kevin McDonough disregarded my warning that Wehmeyer’s parishes had not been informed of his sexual issues. The memo from McDonough to Father Laird and Tim Rourke, the monitor assigned by the Archdiocese to oversee sexually abusive priests, arguing against the need for disclosure is one of the most damning aspects of this tragedy. The mother of the victims was an employee of the parish at which Wehmeyer served.

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OREGON
WJTV

SHERWOOD, Ore. (KOIN) — An arrest warrant was issued Tuesday for a local priest who was placed on administrative leave last month for allegedly lying about hidden cameras found in a church bathroom.

But officials said they believe he may have left the country.

A warrant was issued for the arrest of 34-year-old Father Ysrael Bien for personal invasion of privacy, tampering with physical evidence and initiating a false police report.

In June, police said a teenager discovered a camera disguised as an outlet on a bathroom wall at St. Francis Catholic Church in Sherwood.

He allegedly told Fr. Bien about the camera, who then told the boy he would report it to police.

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OREGON
KATU

SHERWOOD, Ore. — A Sherwood priest is wanted in connection with a hidden camera discovered at his church earlier this year.

The hidden camera was found last May inside a bathroom socket at St. Francis Catholic Church. When it was first discovered, Sherwood Police say the church’s priest, Father Ysrael Bien, reportedly lied to a parishoner that he had filed a police report and that an investigation was ongoing.

He’s now wanted on charges of invasion of privacy, tampering with evidence and initiating a false report.

According to a news release, police believe Bien may have left the country.

Officials at the Archdiocese of Portland said in a statement late Tuesday that Bien was placed on administrative leave because of the investigation. Officials said they were saddened to learn that he was being charged.

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

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OREGON
The Oregonian

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

An arrest warrant was issued Tuesday for Father Ysrael Bien, a Sherwood priest, in the case of a hidden camera found in a church bathroom.

Bien, 34, is wanted on misdemeanor charges of invasion of privacy, tampering with evidence and initiating a false report. Sherwood Capt. Ty Hanlon, a police spokesman, said officers believe the priest may have left the country.

The arrest warrant comes after police obtained records showing that a “wall socket hidden camera” was purchased under Bien’s name and shipped to Bien’s address, Hanlon said.

The investigation began in May after a 15-year-old parishioner of St. Francis Catholic Church discovered the camera April 26, court records say.

In the bathroom next to the vesting room, where altar servers and the priest prepare for Mass, the teenager noticed an electrical outlet placed at waist-height next to the toilet. Thinking that was odd, he pulled it from the wall and brought it to the priest. The device contained a hidden camera.

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OREGON
Washington Times

By – Associated Press – Tuesday, August 18, 2015

SHERWOOD, Ore. (AP) – Police have obtained an arrest warrant for an Oregon priest after a 15-year-old parishioner discovered a hidden camera in a church bathroom, but authorities believe the priest may have left the country.

The warrant, issued Tuesday by Washington County Circuit Court, seeks the arrest of Father Ysrael Bien of St. Francis Catholic Church in Sherwood for invasion of privacy, tampering with evidence and initiating a false police report.

Sherwood police said they tried to find Bien, but another priest told them he had left the country. The Oregonian reported (http://is.gd/alqVyQ ) hat Portland Archbishop Alexander Sample said in a statement Tuesday that church officials learned only after Bien had left that he had gone to the Philippines, where he has family.

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ARKANSAS
Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

By Ron Wood
Posted: August 19, 2015

FAYETTEVILLE — A juvenile court judge denied motions Tuesday from Springdale and the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette related to whether police should release copies of a 911 call in May from outside the Jim Bob Duggar home.

Washington County Circuit Judge Stacey Zimmerman said the 911 call and any related documents are outside the scope of any orders she issued related to a 2007 Families in Need of Services case involving the Duggar family.

A procedure to allow a nonparty, called intervenor, to join ongoing litigation, either as a matter of right or at the discretion of the court, without the permission of the original litigants. The basic rationale for intervention is that a judgment in a particular case may affect the rights of nonparties, who ideally should have the right to be heard.

Springdale police released in June a number of documents requested by Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reporter Doug Thompson under the Freedom of Information Act, but didn’t include the May 27 audio recording of a 911 call. The call had previously been released to In Touch magazine and received extensive press coverage.

The magazine’s account of the recording says the 911 caller identified himself as a Washington County case worker for the state Department of Human Services. He was quoted as giving the Duggar’s address and saying: “We have an investigation, and I guess they’re not being cooperative. We have to see the child to make sure the child is all right. So we just need police assistance.”

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SCOTLAND
The National

YESTERDAY’S apology by the Catholic Church has been a long time coming. The Church has known for decades that some priests have inflicted horrific sexual abuse on children who trusted them.

It has known and done nothing to give the victims support and help. Instead its efforts have concentrated on covering up the crimes and protecting the perpetrators.

Yesterday’s publication of the McLellan report and the apology delivered by Archbishop Phillip Tartaglia may have been years too late but have to be regarded as at least steps in the right direction.

The report contains many sensible recommendations, which the Church has promised to act upon.

It urges the Church, for instance, to scrap its existing safeguarding policies and replace them with new practices that are fit for purpose. It calls for a consistent approach to dealing with allegations across the country and better training in the Church.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

19 August, 2015

The public hearing was held in September 2014 and examined the experiences of 10 former residents of the Retta Dixon Home in Darwin.

The Retta Dixon Home was established by Australian Indigenous Ministries (AIM) at Bagot Aboriginal Reserve in 1946 as a home for Aboriginal children and mothers and a hostel for young Aboriginal women.

AIM accepts that, before 2013, AIM did not have any guidelines or procedures for persons working with children on how to respond to allegations of child sexual abuse.

AIM accepts that from 1947 until 1980, when the Retta Dixon Home operated, AIM did not provide training to persons who worked at the home on how to detect or respond to child sexual abuse.

Following a number of failings on the part of AIM the Commissioners have concluded that, in respect of the matters the subject of the case study, AIM did not meet the obligations that it had to children in its care, including protection from sexual abuse.

The Commissioners were unable to make a finding on the material presented to the Royal Commission as to whether or not the Commonwealth failed in its duty of care to the children of the Retta Dixon Home. However, a question remains as to whether in the circumstances the Commonwealth should have taken remedial action to protect the residents of the home from sexual abuse.

Read The Report of Case Study No. 17 at the Royal Commission’s website.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Helen Davidson and agencies
@heldavidson
Wednesday 19 August 2015

Australian Indigenous Ministries failed to meet its obligations to protect children, including from sexual abuse, when it ran the Retta Dixon home for Aboriginal children and mothers in Darwin for more than 40 years, the child abuse royal commission has found.

The commission was unable to make a finding on whether the commonwealth government also failed in its obligations.

“However, a question remains as to whether in the circumstances the commonwealth should have taken remedial action to protect the residents of the home from sexual abuse,” it said.

The findings, released on Wednesday, were based on a public hearing held in Darwin in late 2014, which heard from men and women abused as children between 1947 and 1980 at the Retta Dixon home. The institution was established in 1946 “for half-caste children and mothers”.

Many who were taken to Retta Dixon under what was then Australian law now identify as members of the stolen generation.

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Brian Donnelly, Senior News Reporter / Tuesday 18 August 2015

AN abuse survivor has criticised the most senior Catholic Archbishop in Scotland for delivering an apology to victims in the setting of a church mass.

Former nun Helen Holland said the apology would not reach victims of abuse because most have long since broken ties with the institution.

The 55-year-old, who was sexually abused in a children’s home run by nuns and priests in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, said she believed the apology that came after an inquiry into abuse in the Catholic Church in Scotland was a missed opportunity.

She said: “I am not sure who the Archbishop was apologising to because most survivors of abuse I know don’t go back to the church.

“It is sad. I think a lot of survivors had expected more from it.

“I also think it is ironic that the Catholic Church needs to be told to apologise.”

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

BY STEPHEN STEWART

ARCHBISHOP Philip Tartaglia said Scottish bishops were “shamed and pained” by the suffering over the years.

SCOTLAND’S most senior Catholic yesterday offered a “profound” apology to the Church’s sex abuse victims.

Archbishop Philip Tartaglia said Scottish bishops were “shamed and pained” by the suffering over the years.

But campaigners dismissed the apology as empty words. And they accused the Catholic Church of glossing over decades of abuse.

Tartaglia spoke out after an independent commission set up to investigate abuse called on the Church to make an “unmistakeable and unequivocal” apology.

Speaking at St Andrew’s Cathedral in Glasgow, the archbishop said: “On behalf of all the Bishops of Scotland, I want to offer a profound apology to all those who have been harmed and who have suffered in any way as a result of actions by anyone within the Catholic Church.

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

FOR the thousands of abuse victims, yesterday’s apology from the Catholic Church in Scotland was far too little, far too late.

Scotland’s most senior Catholic, Archbishop Philip Tartaglia, offered a “profound apology” to victims of abuse within the church following the release of an independent review of how they handled past allegations.

It has taken much too long for the church in ­Scotland to show contrition and it would feel more sincere if they had not acted only hours after the McLellan report told them to.

Of 46 allegations made against the Catholic Church between 2006 and 2012, only 39 per cent resulted in prosecution, a lack of action that speaks louder than any repentance from a pulpit.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
New Hampshire Union Leader

By DALE VINCENT
New Hampshire Union Leader

CONCORD – Owen Labrie, accused of raping a 15-year-old fellow student at St. Paul’s School on May 30, 2014, in a tradition called “Senior Salute,” will testify in his Merrimack County Superior Court trial.

Labrie, 19, of Tunbridge, Vt., was a graduating senior and a Prefect, a student leader, when he’s accused of inviting the girl to meet him for the Senior Salute, which allegedly occurred in a room in one of the campus buildings that was off limits to students.

In her opening statement, Assistant Merrimack County Attorney Catherine Ruffle told jurors Tuesday that the victim, who is not being named by the newspaper, will testify she was not a willing participant in the sexual activity.

Ruffle said people had different ideas of just what the Senior Salute entailed, with some thinking it was as simple as kissing. Others thought of it as taking the virginity of an underclassman.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
The News Tribune

BY LYNNE TUOHY
Associated Press

CONCORD, N.H.
The teenager who says she was raped last year by a senior at the elite St. Paul’s School in New Hampshire will return to the witness stand to testify about events surrounding the alleged assault.

The accuser, who was 15 at the time, said she initially declined an invitation by then 18-year-old Owen Labrie of Tunbridge, Vermont, to Senior Salute — the practice of seniors boys making sexual conquests of younger students before they graduate.

She said she was familiar with the tradition, but testified she didn’t think at the time it involved any “special expectations.”

Defense attorney J.W. Carney told jurors Tuesday that emails between the two suggest the girl was a willing participant.

Carney, who minimized the Senior Salute element, read to jurors from a string of emails between the two before and immediately after they got together the night of May 30, 2014 — two days before Labrie graduated. In them, the freshman agreed to meet Labrie “only if it’s our little secret.”

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SCOTLAND
Scotsman

NO-ONE can doubt the sincerity of the profound apology offered by the Archbishop of Glasgow to those abused at the hands of the Catholic Church.

From the pulpit, Archbishop Philip Tartaglia spoke of the “horrific crime” of child abuse that had been carried out within the church and pleaded for forgiveness.

After years of cover-up, at last the Catholic Church appears to be acknowledging what Tartaglia described as the “inexcusable and intolerable” crimes committed by a religious institution found guilty of damaging children in the most appalling way imaginable.

Tartaglia’s apology was made following the publication of yesterday’s independent report into abuse carried out by those involved with the church – a document that made very grim reading indeed.

The investigation, led by Dr Andrew McLellan, a former Moderator of the Church of Scotland, touched on the devastation wrought on young lives by those they were supposed to trust.

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SCOTLAND
The National

AUGUST 19TH, 2015

JANICE BURNS

CHILD abuse victims reacted with anger yesterday at the outcome of a long-running inquiry into the Catholic Church in Scotland’s handling of the scandal, describing it as “a joke” and “total bull****”.

Survivors’ groups insisted the eight recommendations laid down in the McLellan Commission report published yesterday was “nothing but a face-saving exercise to restore the damaged reputation of the Catholic Church”, offering nothing to help victims rebuild their broken lives.

A commission led by the Very Rev Andrew McLellan demanded that the Scottish Catholic Church make an “unmistakeable and unequivocal” apology to survivors of abuse, and insisted justice must be done and be seen to be done.

Survivors said Church leader Archbishop Tartaglia’s “profound apology” to abuse victims, which followed the publication of the report, was “16-years too late” and “meaningless”.

McLellan, former moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland and one-time chief inspector of prisons, demanded support for survivors of abuse to be an “absolute priority”.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Big Trial

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

The archdiocese caved; Billy Doe got paid.

That’s the depressing bottom line in the civil case of Doe v. Archdiocese of Philadelphia et al, according to multiple sources.

On the court docket today, Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Jacqueline F. Allen dismissed both a motion for partial summary judgment filed by the former altar boy, and a motion for summary judgment filed by the archdiocese, as “moot,” because both parties had “settled all claims . . . in the instant matter.”

The settlement is confidential. As part of the settlement, Msgr. William J. Lynn, the archdiocese’s former secretary for clergy, was dismissed as a defendant in the civil case, according to sources. Billy Doe’s civil lawyers had also sued the estate of the late Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua, the former archbishop of Philadelphia, but that claim too was settled, according to the court docket.

A trial in the civil case had been scheduled for Nov. 9th. Three defendants who had supposedly sexually assaulted the former altar boy remain in the case: former priest Edward V. Avery, the late Father Charles Engelhardt, and former Catholic teacher Bernard Shero. The trio of alleged assailants were the defendants at two historic criminal trials. Avery pleaded guilty on the eve of the first trial in 2012; the following year Engelhardt and Shero were convicted by a jury in the second trial on sex charges and sent to jail.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
The New York Times

By JESS BIDGOOD and MOTOKO RICHAUG. 18, 2015

CONCORD, N.H. — Owen Labrie, a senior at the St. Paul’s School, made up a list of potential girls for his “senior salute” — a school ritual in which older students proposition younger ones for as much intimacy as they can get away with: a kiss, touching, or more.

It was the spring of 2014, and on the list, held up in court by prosecutors on Tuesday, one girl’s name appeared in capital letters. First, prosecutors said, Mr. Labrie wooed her by email. Then, they said, using a key that was shared among students seeking privacy, he took her to a mechanical room on campus. And there, prosecutors said, he raped her.

“This case is about Owen Labrie sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl,” said Catherine J. Ruffle, the deputy county attorney, during her opening statement at Mr. Labrie’s trial. “It’s about how he thought about this for months. How he made a plan.”

While Mr. Labrie is the one on trial, prosecutors here have also pointed to both the senior salute and to the key, passed down from senior class to senior class, as vital context for the alleged sexual crimes. In court records and in Tuesday’s opening statement, they described an elite boarding school here that was not just an institution of higher learning and prominent alumni, including Secretary of State John Kerry and Cornelius Vanderbilt III, but also a place of secret rites and sexual conquest.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
MSNBC

By James Novogrod

CONCORD, New Hampshire — The accuser in the rape case that has raised questions about campus life at one of the country’s most elite prep schools took the stand Tuesday, breaking down in tears as she identified the man who she says assaulted her in a school building in May last year.

Nineteen-year-old Owen Labrie is accused of raping the then 15-year-old girl two days before his graduation from St. Paul’s School here in Concord.

The prosecutor in the case said in opening statements Monday that the assault occurred as a part of a school tradition called “Senior Salute,” in which members of the senior class allegedly seek sexual conquests with younger students.

Taking the stand late in the day, the accuser recounted how Labrie, then 18, sent her an email message proposing they spend time together. The girl, who was a freshman at the time, told the court that she turned the invitation down but reconsidered after being pressed by a fellow classmate.

Court adjourned as the girl’s testimony was still in progress. She is expected to resume her testimony Tuesday.

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PARAGUAY
The New York Times

By SAM ROBERTS
AUG. 18, 2015

Rogelio Livieres Plano, a conservative bishop in eastern Paraguay who was deposed by Pope Francis last year, died on Friday in Buenos Aires. He was 69.

His death, from complications of diabetes, was confirmed by Archbishop Edmundo Valenzuela of Asunción, Paraguay, according to The Associated Press.

Bishop Livieres sheltered an Argentine priest, the Rev. Carlos Urrutigoity, who had been accused of molesting seminarians in Pennsylvania and Argentina. He then promoted Father Urrutigoity, making him his vicar general, responsible for handling accusations of sexual abuse by clergymen in the diocese.

Bishop Livieres said Father Urrutigoity had been recommended by cardinals in the Vatican, including Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who became Pope Benedict XVI.

In 2004, the Diocese of Scranton, Pa., settled a lawsuit against Father Urrutigoity and another diocesan priest for $400,000.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
Daily Mail (UK)

Teen breaks down in tears on the stand as she accuses elite prep school student of raping her in ‘virginity taking’ game

By Kelly Mclaughlin For Dailymail.com and Associated Press

A teenage girl accusing an elite prep school graduate of raping her as part of a campus practice of sexual conquest broke down in tears as she took the stand on Tuesday in court.

Prosecutors and defense lawyers in the trial of Owen Labrie allegedly raping a freshman girl told jurors that the case hinges on the credibility of the accuser.

Prosecutor Catherine Ruffle said in her opening statement that Labrie, of Tunbridge, Vermont, raped the 15-year-old girl on the roof of a campus building in May 2014 as part of the Senior Salute at the prestigious St Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire.

She referred to the practice, in which graduating boys try to take the virginity of younger girls before getting their diplomas, as ‘the context for this entire event’.

Labrie, now 19, has pleaded not guilty to several felonies.

On the witness stand Tuesday, the accuser broke down crying and pointed at Labrie when asked if he was in the courtroom.

The petite student, her ash blonde hair pulled back from her forehead, told jurors the two were not friends, but he was a classmate of her sister.

She said during her testimony that she thought Labrie’s invitation to a Senior Salute was ‘disgusting’ because he had written it so sappily, according to WMUR.

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SCOTLAND
Telegraph

By Auslan Cramb, Scottish Correspondent

The Roman Catholic Church in Scotland has offered a “profound apology” to the victims of child sex abuse after a damning review said it must rid itself of systems “which allow evil”.

A commission led by Dr Andrew McLellan, a former moderator of the Church of Scotland, said support for those abused must be an “absolute priority” if the church was to restore its credibility.

He called for an “unmistakable and unequivocal” apology to the survivors of abuse and warned his report represented an “unrepeatable chance” to make things better.

The churchman said that if the opportunity was missed, survivors would know there was “no hope left for them within the Catholic Church in Scotland”.

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NEW YORK
The New York Times

By ANDY NEWMAN
AUG. 18, 2015

A prominent Orthodox rabbi in the Bronx who was the focus of scrutiny for having taken young boys naked to a sauna will keep his job, after his synagogue’s board changed course and decided not to seek his removal.

The rabbi, Jonathan Rosenblatt of the Riverdale Jewish Center, had fought efforts to remove him and apologized for lapses in judgment, and seemed to have the support of most of the 700-member congregation.

“After carefully considering various scenarios over the last several weeks, we firmly believe that the approach laid out by Rabbi Rosenblatt is an effective and appropriate way forward,” the board’s president and chairman wrote in an email to members last Thursday. The rabbi, the board said, had “shared his vision” about strengthening bonds among members and maintaining the synagogue’s financial stability.

The email was reported on Monday by The Times of Israel.

At least two board trustees resigned over the decision to keep Rabbi Rosenblatt, and dozens of congregation members unhappy with the process have begun holding services at each other’s homes instead of at the synagogue.

In May, an article in The New York Times described how shortly after taking the helm of the synagogue in 1985, Rabbi Rosenblatt began taking boys from his congregation, as young as 12, to a gym to play squash or racquetball, then to the sauna, where he would talk with them about their faith. The rabbi and the boys were often naked during the chats.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
Yahoo! News

By Ted Siefer

CONCORD, N.H. (Reuters) – Two very different versions of a sexual encounter last year between two pupils at an elite New Hampshire prep school emerged on Tuesday, the opening day of the rape trial of one of the students.

A state prosecutor and an attorney for the defendant, Owen Labrie, 19, of Tunbridge, Vermont, made opening statements at Merrimack Superior Court in Concord, New Hampshire, where Labrie faces charges of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old freshman girl days before he graduated in 2014 from St. Paul’s School.

The prep school counts among its graduates numerous prominent U.S. business and political leaders, including U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

The trial is shining a spotlight on the culture of St. Paul’s, and specifically a tradition described as a “senior salute,” in which younger students have sexual encounters with graduating seniors. Labrie had initially told police that there was a competition among students to see who could “score” with the most girls.

“This is the face of Owen Labrie,” prosecutor Catherine Ruffle said. “It’s probably not the face you think of when you think of sexual assault, but when you see and hear the evidence, we believe you will see a different side of the defendant.”

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MINNESOTA/WISCONSIN
Minnesota Public Radio

Peter Cox Aug 18, 2015

A former priest, currently in prison in Minnesota for sexually abusing two boys, has been sentenced to three years in prison in Wisconsin for sexually abusing a third boy.

Curtis Wehmeyer, 51, pleaded guilty Friday to third degree criminal sexual assault, according to Chippewa County, Wis., court records. He was sentenced to three years in prison and three years of extended supervision.

He’ll serve the Wisconsin prison sentence when he completes the five-year sentence he’s serving at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Lino Lakes. According to the criminal complaint in that case, he abused two boys while serving the Church of the Blessed Sacrament in St. Paul.

Wehmeyer pleaded guilty in November 2012 to criminal sexual conduct and possessing child pornography. His anticipated release date from Lino Lakes is May 31, 2016.

According to the criminal complaint filed in Wisconsin, Wehmeyer provided a teenage boy with alcohol and marijuana while they were on a camping trip in 2011 at Brunet Island State Park in Estella, Wis. The teen woke up to find Wehmeyer in bed with him and touching him sexually, according to the complaint.

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SCOTLAND
Scottish Catholic Observer

During Mass at St Andrew’s Cathedral today, Archbishop Philip Tartaglia offered the Scottish Church’s full response to the publication of the McLellan report from the commission chaired by Dr Andrew McLellan, a former Church of Scotland Moderator

The Bishops of Scotland came together in Glasgow’s St Andrew’s Cathedral this afternoon as Archbishop Philip Tartaglia apologised on behalf of the hierarchy to those abused by people in the Church, saying such abuse ‘shamed and pained’ them.

At a Mass concelebrated by Bishops Joseph Toal of Motherwell, Hugh Gilbert of Aberdeen and William Nolan of Galloway and Archbishop Emeritus Mario Conti of Glasgow and Bishop Emeritus Maurice Taylor of Galloway, Archbishop Philip Tartaglia, president of the Bishop’s Conference of Scotland, gave the Church’s response to the final report from the McLellan Commission report into safeguarding practice in the Church.

The Archbishop of Glasgow began by addressing the first recommendation in the report that the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland make a public apology to all victims and survivors of abuse.

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SCOTLAND
Channel 4

The findings of a Commission say the Church has an “unrepeatable chance to make things better” and calls for support for survivors of abuse to be an “absolute priority.”

The Catholic Church in Scotland must move from “secrecy to openness, from systems which allow evil to survive to systems which ensure that good is done.”

A commission led by the Very Rev Andrew McLellan published a report on Tuesday detailing the failures in the safe-guarding practices of the Catholic Church in Scotland, making eight recommendations, including calling for support for survivors of abuse to be an “absolute priority”.

Mr McLellan, a former moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland and one-time chief inspector of prisons, was tasked with evaluating the procedures in place to protect vulnerable children and adults. He said the Church must make an “unmistakeable and unequivocal” apology to survivors of abuse.

Using powerful language on Tuesday Mr McLellan said: “Our report gives the Catholic Church a chance – an unrepeatable chance – to make things better.”

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

ROMAN Catholic Archbishop Philip Tartaglia has apologised to survivors of abuse within the church in Scotland following the publication of an independent review of its handling of allegations.

A commission led by the Very Rev Andrew McLellan called for the church to make an “unmistakable and unequivocal” apology and said support for survivors of abuse must be its “absolute priority”.

Archbishop Tartaglia, president of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland, issued the apology in his homily during a mass at St Andrew’s Cathedral in Glasgow this afternoon.

He said: “As the president of the Bishops’ Conference, and on behalf of all the Bishops of Scotland, I want to offer a profound apology to all those who have been harmed and who have suffered in any way as a result of actions by anyone within the Catholic Church.

“Child abuse is a horrific crime. That this abuse should have been carried out within the Church, and by priests and religious, takes that abuse to another level.

“Such actions are inexcusable and intolerable. The harm the perpetrators of abuse have caused is first and foremost to their victims, but it extends far beyond them, to their families and friends, as well as to the church and wider society.”

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SCOTLAND
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

LONDON (AP) — An independent commission is urging the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland to offer an unequivocal apology to victims of sex abuse.

The inquiry was set up in 2013 following a series of scandals. Disgraced Cardinal Keith O’Brien stepped down in February 2013 after three priests and a former priest made allegations of inappropriate behavior.

The commission described support for survivors Tuesday as an “absolute priority,” and recommended that the church’s safeguarding policies and practices be completely rewritten and subjected to external scrutiny.

The investigation’s chair, Very Rev Andrew McLellan, described the report as “a chance — an unrepeatable chance — to make things better.”

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SCOTLAND
Christian Today

Ruth Gledhill CHRISTIAN TODAY CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
18 August 2015

The Catholic Church must make an “unmistakable and unequivocal” public apology to all survivors of abuse within the Church, a report says today.

The Church must act both to “heal the hurt” and address the anger of the many victims of abuse over many decades, says the report by the McLellan Commission, set up by the Roman Catholic bishops of Scotland.

The Church now has an “unrepeatable” chance to put things right for victims of abuse.

“If this opportunity is not taken the public credibility of the Catholic Church in Scotland will be destroyed,” warned the Very Rev Dr Andrew McLellan, a former moderator of the Church of Scotland, who was asked to chair the 11-member commission set up after a series of scandals that went right to the top of the Church.

The allegations included reports of abuse at a former Catholic boarding school at Fort Augustus Abbey in the Scottish Highlands.

Cardinal Keith O’Brien, former Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, resigned two years ago after it was revealed that he had engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct with junior priests.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
ABC News

Aug 18, 2015

By SUSANNA KIM and MICHELE McPHEE
via GOOD MORNING AMERICA

Opening arguments and testimony begin today for a rape case involving an elite New Hampshire prep school that has raised questions about the campus culture.

The defendant, Owen Labrie, 19, of Tunbridge, Vermont, is a graduate of St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire. He is accused of raping a 15-year old girl on campus on May 30, 2014, days before he graduated.

Labrie’s attorney, Boston defense attorney J.W. Carney, displayed enlarged printouts of email exchanged between Labrie and the alleged victim before that time, including what he called “romantic” language in French.

“Neither of us were there. None of you were there. What we have to focus on is the evidence,” Carney told the jury today, asking them to zero in on the alleged victim’s words about whether she was a “willing participant.”

He read to the jury a text message conversation that allegedly took place after May 30 in which the alleged victim asked Labrie if he wore a condom and he asks if she was using “the pill,” and the two text “haha” several times.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
Boston.com

By Allison Manning @allymanning
Boston.com Staff | 08.18.15

Opening statements are scheduled to begin Tuesday in the trial of a New England prep school graduate who is accused of raping a 15-year-old classmate as part of the “Senior Salute,” an alleged tradition of sexual conquest at the school.

Owen Labrie, 19, is accused of raping a female student at St. Paul’s School in May 2014. He has pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of sexual assault.

Prosecutors say the assault was part of a ritual called the “Senior Salute,” in which senior boys kept a tally of how many female classmates they could have sex with before graduation.

Opening statements will begin this morning after the jury visits the Lindsay Center, the location on the school’s campus where the assault allegedly occurred.

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IOWA
Weekly Standard

BY MICHAEL WARREN

Supporters of Iowa Democrat Bruce Braley will raise money Wednesday night at the home of an attorney who once defended a Catholic bishop accused of molesting young boys. Trial lawyer Tim Bottaro will host the fundraiser at his home in Sioux City along with other supporters of Braley’s Senate campaign.

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TEXAS
Dallas Observer

BY AMY SILVERSTEIN
TUESDAY, AUGUST 18, 2015

In February, a missionary agency made a startling report about one of its members. “… Mr. [Jordan] Root admitted that he has been sexually attracted to prepubescent female children for many years and that during his service with SIM [Serving in Mission] he has been viewing nude photographs of children via the Internet in order to gratify this desire,” says a leaked, confidential report by Serving in Mission International, the missionary agency that Root and his then-wife had volunteered through. The report alleged that Root, who was not charged with a crime, admitted to pedophilia in an interview with Serving in Mission investigators, and the agency recommended that they terminate Root’s membership. What followed next was a bitter, drawn-out battle between Root’s ex-wife and the Dallas megachurch that the couple had attended as covenant members.

Root initially confessed to watching child porn to his former wife Karen Hinkley, according to interviews that Hinkley previously gave to the Observer, The Daily Beast and WatchKeep, the blog run by local activist Amy Smith. After Serving in Mission severed ties with Root, Dallas’ The Village Church wrote an email to all covenant members saying that they had notified police and were placing restrictions on Root, including keeping him away from any children’s facilities in the church. But privately, the church asked Hinkley to stay married to her husband and forgive him. When she insisted on an annulment, Pastor Matt Younger wrote an email to her chastising her for violating a membership covenant she had signed: “…this decision violates your covenant with us — and places you under discipline,” Younger wrote to her. The Village Church declined to discuss the case and instead sent us a generic statement in June about the membership covenant. Among other stipulations, it dictates: “I will seek to preserve the gift of marriage and agree to walk through the steps of marriage reconciliation at The Village Church before pursuing divorce from my spouse.” (The Village Church’s Pastor Matt Chandler later offered Hinkley a public apology).

The allegations against Root are disturbing, and not just because of his work as a missionary. For three years, has also worked as a therapist at a mental hospital in Dallas, the Timberlawn Mental Health System. “As a therapist, he worked with kids and families on the children & adolescent unit,” his ex-wife writes in a message. He decided to stop doing the work in May 2014, she says, several months before she says he first admitted to her that he viewed child pornography. (The activist group Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests first revealed the information about Root’s employment at Timberlawn in May, but that nugget of news was left out in news media coverage of the church controversy).

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SCOTLAND
Belfast Telegraph

Scotland’s most senior Catholic Archbishop, Philip Tartaglia, has apologised to survivors of abuse within the church in Scotland following the publication of an independent review of its handling of allegations.

A commission led by the Very Rev Andrew McLellan called for the church to make an ”unmistakeable and unequivocal” apology and said support for survivors of abuse must be its ”absolute priority”.

Archbishop Tartaglia, president of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland, issued the apology in his homily during a mass at St Andrew’s Cathedral in Glasgow this afternoon.

He said: “As the president of the Bishops’ Conference, and on behalf of all the Bishops of Scotland, I want to offer a profound apology to all those who have been harmed and who have suffered in any way as a result of actions by anyone within the Catholic Church.

“Child abuse is a horrific crime. That this abuse should have been carried out within the Church, and by priests and religious, takes that abuse to another level.

“Such actions are inexcusable and intolerable. The harm the perpetrators of abuse have caused is first and foremost to their victims, but it extends far beyond them, to their families and friends, as well as to the church and wider society.”

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SCOTLAND
Belfast Telegraph

Catholic Church in Scotland must support and apologise to abuse survivors, says review that followed Cardinal Keith O’Brien scandal

By Claire Cromie and Catriona Wenster
PUBLISHED
18/08/2015

An independent review ordered in the wake of the cardinal Keith O’Brien scandal has told the Catholic Church in Scotland it must make an “unmistakeable and unequivocal” apology to survivors of abuse.

A commission led by the Very Rev Andrew McLellan has made eight recommendations, including calling for support for survivors of abuse to be an “absolute priority”.

It also says justice must be done for those who have been abused.

The commission was set up in November 2013 by the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland in response to a series of scandals, including the resignation of disgraced cardinal Keith O’Brien, from Northern Ireland.

He stepped down from the archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh in February 2013 after three priests and a former priest made allegations of inappropriate behaviour against him.

Mr McLellan, a former moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland and one-time chief inspector of prisons, was tasked with evaluating the procedures in place to protect vulnerable children and adults and ensure that the church is ”a safe place for all”.

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SCOTLAND
BBC News

The Catholic Church in Scotland has apologised to victims of “criminal and sinful” abuse.
Addressing the survivors of abuse, Archbishop Philip Tartaglia said: “We say sorry, we ask forgiveness”.

An independent commission into allegations of sexual abuse had recommended that the Church address the wrongs of the past.

The review body, led by Dr Andrew McLellan, had been set up by Scottish bishops after a series of scandals including the resignation of Cardinal Keith O’Brien.

The apology was made to a congregation which had assembled for mass at St Andrew’s Cathedral in Glasgow on Tuesday.

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SCOTLAND
Sky News

By James Matthews, Scotland Correspondent

Scotland’s most senior Catholic has offered a “profound apology” to victims of abuse within the Church, following the release of an independent review of how it has handled past allegations.

The report urged the Church to address the wrongs of the past and make an “unmistakable and unequivocal” apology to those who have suffered.

Archbishop Philip Tartaglia used Tuesday afternoon’s homily at St Andrew’s Cathedral in Glasgow to address the issue publicly.

“As the president of the Bishops’ Conference, and on behalf of all the Bishops of Scotland, I want to offer a profound apology to all those who have been harmed and who have suffered in any way as a result of actions by anyone within the Catholic Church,” he told the congregation.

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SCOTLAND
Scottish Catholic Observer

After the McLellan report’s release this morning, the President of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland extends apology from the hierarchy for Church’s handing of abuse Church safeguarding staff commit to implementing commission’s recommendations

The McLellan report into how the Scottish Church handles allegation of sexual abuse has said the Church must ‘put survivors first’ from now on and apologise publicly for past wrongdoing..

Dr Andrew McLellan (above), the former Church of Scotland Moderator who the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland asked to chair the independent review, said at the landmark report’s release this morning his commission had found there was ‘no doubt’ that ‘abuse of the most serious kind has taken place within the Church in Scotland.’ He also said that dealing with this was the ‘greatest challenge facing the whole Catholic Church in Scotland.’

He then outlined eight key recommendations the Church can follow to ensure it is ‘a safe place for all.’ The Church has indicated it will embrace the findings of the report.

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SCOTLAND
Scottish Catholic Media Office

Following the publication earlier today a “Review of Safeguarding Protocols and Procedures” by a Commission chaired by the Very Rev Dr Andrew McLellan, the Catholic Bishops of Scotland have welcomed the report and accepted its recommendations in full.

The report comprises a detailed assessment of all aspects of Safeguarding within the church and can be viewed here: www.mclellancommission.co.uk

In the report preface, Dr. McLellan notes:

“The invitation to chair this Commission came from the Bishops’ Conference of the Catholic Church in Scotland. When I accepted it I made it clear that I did not feel that my first responsibility was to them. My first responsibility was, and has been through all our work, to those who have been harmed.“

Dr. McLellan adds:

“The fact that the Bishops commissioned a Minister of the Church of Scotland to carry out this review demonstrated an ecumenical trust, which could not have been guessed at in Scotland thirty years ago. I appreciate that generosity of spirit.“

In the Report, the Commission set out 8 principal recommendations:

1. Support for the survivors of abuse must be an absolute priority for the Catholic Church in Scotland in the field of safeguarding. The Bishops’ Conference of Scotland should make a public apology to all survivors of abuse within the Church.

2. The “Awareness and Safety” manual should be completely revised or rewritten.

3. There must be some external scrutiny and independence in the safeguarding policies and practices of the Catholic Church in Scotland.

4. Effectiveness and improvement must be measured at every level of safeguarding in the Church.

5. A consistent approach to safeguarding is essential: consistent across different parts of Scotland and consistent across different parts of the Church.

6. Justice must be done, and justice must be seen to be done, for those who have been abused and for those against whom allegations of abuse are made. …

Child abuse is a horrific crime. That this abuse should have been carried out within the Church, and by priests and religious, takes that abuse to another level. Such actions are inexcusable and intolerable. The harm the perpetrators of abuse have caused is first and foremost to their victims, but it extends far beyond them, to their families and friends, as well as to the Church and wider society.

I would like to assure the survivors of abuse that the Catholic Bishops of Scotland are shamed and pained by what you have suffered. We say sorry. We ask forgiveness.

We apologise to those who have found the Church’s response slow, unsympathetic or uncaring and reach out to them as we take up the recommendations of the McLellan Commission.”

Commenting on the report, Bishop Joseph Toal, the Bishop responsible for Safeguarding said:

“In accepting fully the recommendations in this report, the Catholic Church in Scotland renews its commitment to protect and safeguard everyone in our parish communities. Our clergy and lay faithful are committed to on-going training and professional development and accept this is a priority for all those involved in Safeguarding at every level. We ask God’s blessing on the clergy and lay faithful who have special responsibilities in carrying out this essential service in our parishes and church organisations.”

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SCOTLAND
The Catholic Herald

Archbishop Philip Tartaglia has offered a “profound” apology to victims of “criminal and sinful” abuse within the Catholic Church in Scotland.

The Archbishop of Glasgow, who is the president of the Bishops’ Conference for Scotland, also said the Church is “pained and shamed” by incidents of abuse that have taken place within it.

Archbishop Tartaglia was speaking at St Andrew’s Cathedral, in Glasgow, earlier today.

The apology comes after the McLellan Commission delivered its report on all aspects of safeguarding policy, procedure and practice within the Catholic Church in Scotland.

The commission, led by Dr Andrew McLellan, made eight key recommendations, including making “support for the survivors of abuse… an absolute priority for the Catholic Church in Scotland”.

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MAINE
TheMediaReport

[the lawsuit]

David Pierre

Congratulations to Michael Geilenfeld, Executive Director of St. Joseph Family of Haiti, to whom a jury awarded $14.7 million after “online activist” Paul Kendrick “endlessly defamed, bullied, and harassed” him by claiming that Geilenfeld had repeatedly abused children in his care in Haiti.

Geilenfeld is a former Brother with the Missionaries of Charity Brothers, created by Mother Teresa. Since 1994, Geilenfeld has operated St. Joseph Family of Haiti as a full-time residence and school for Haitian children with physical and mental disabilities, providing these needy children permanent residence, room and board, meals, physical therapy, recreational therapy, formal education, religious education, and more.

As a result of Kendrick’s defamation campaign against Geilenfeld and Hearts With Haiti – the organization that raised funds for St. Joseph’s – reliable donors ceased supporting Geilenfeld’s operation out of fear that their money might be supporting child abuse. The damage that Kendrick wreaked was utterly devastating.

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SCOTLAND
The Catholic Herald

Justice must be done – and seen to be done – for those who have survived abuse within the Scottish Church, an independent report has said.

The McLellan Commission, which published the report today, was established in 2014 with a remit to undertake a critical review of all aspects of safeguarding policy, procedure and practice within the Catholic Church in Scotland.

Dr Andrew McLellan, chairman of The McLellan Commission, has made eight key recommendations to Scotland’s Catholic bishops to help improve the current standards of safeguarding within the Church.

Dr McLellan told a press conference that “the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland should make a public apology to all survivors of abuse within the Church” and that the apology must be made in a way that is “unmistakeable and unequivocal”.

“The bishops have said from the outset that they will accept our recommendations,” he said.

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SCOTLAND
STV

By Cara Sulieman
18 August 2015

Survivors of abuse at the hands of the Catholic Church should receive an “unmistakeable and unequivocal” public apology from Bishops, according to a review into handling of allegations.

The McLellan Commission was set up in November 2013 to evaluate the procedures in place to protect vulnerable children and adults.

It published its findings on Tuesday, with a total of eight recommendations.

The Very Rev Andrew McLellan, a former moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland who led the inquiry, told a press conference in Edinburgh an public apology should be made.

He also said there was “no doubt” the Catholic Church put protecting its reputation and offenders before the needs to abuse victims.

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