ABUSE TRACKER

UNITED KINGDOM
Caribbean News Now!

By Anthony L Hall

Here, in part, is how I commented on reports that Jimmy Savile, the British Dick Clark, was a serial child sexual abuser:

All of England is still reeling with shock and indignation at recent revelations that Sir Jimmy Savile was a predatory pedophile (and an alleged necrophiliac). Savile was the nationally beloved host of a number of BBC programs, including the very popular and long-running Top of the Pops. But reports are that he sexually abused hundreds of young girls (and boys) throughout his 40-year career…

Far more troubling, though, was a report on Monday by Panorama, the BBC’s own critically acclaimed current affairs program, which left no doubt that Savile was part of a pedophile ring that included other stars as well as top executives at the BBC — some of whom may still be on the job … and still preying on children.

(“The BBC’s Penn-State Problem,” The iPINIONS Journal, October 24, 2012)
Remarkably, the British media had been reporting on this pedophile ring for years to no effect.

But, as indicated, reports that it included (and may still include) celebrated stars like Savile sent shockwaves throughout England. Reports now that it also included (and may still include) respected politicians like former Conservative Prime Minister Edward Heath have left the country in complete shock and dismay:

Five police forces are investigating claims of historical child sexual abuse involving former PM Sir Edward Heath [including a claim that he raped a 12-year-old boy in the 1960s]…

The BBC understands Wiltshire Police halted an inquiry into a brothel keeper in the 1990s after she said Sir Edward was involved in child sexual abuse…

The IPCC said on Monday that it would look at whether Wiltshire officers failed to pursue allegations of child abuse made against Sir Edward, who was Conservative prime minister from 1970 to 1974.

(BBC, August 4, 2015)

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UNITED STATES
The Tablet

04 August 2015 by Arthur McCaffrey

US media has been all agog about the latest Gallup Poll numbers alleging that Pope Francis’ popularity has waned in America, just prior to his historic visit to Congress and the White House in late September. Is this just a storm in a teacup, or is the fuss justified?

Several themes emerged to explain the alleged drop, most marked (- 27 points) among politically conservative respondents. The New York Times and the Washington Post both cite Republican displeasure at the Pope inserting himself into the debate over global economics and climate change. With many Catholics in the Republican Party, a Boston Globe headline similarly proclaimed that the slump was due to “conservative dismay”, citing some Catholic think-tank conservatives who, after listening to Francis’ themes of poverty, injustice and pollution during his recent Latin America trip, complained they were tired of being “scolded” and nagged by the Pope about their responsibilities.

Pope, Morales, hammer and sickle crucifixVeteran Vatican insider John Allen, editor of “All Things Catholic” for the Boston Globe, worries that around the Pope’s visit there may be a backlash from right-wing critics of the his teachings because of the many signals Francis has given that the US (champion of free market capitalism) may be a big part of the problem of global inequity.

Nevertheless, a professor of moral theology at Boston College, Fr James Bretzke, managed to see a silver lining, telling the New York Times, “They’re not always agreeing with [Francis] but they are clearly listening.”

Some of the drop in papal ratings can be attributed not to the Pope’s views on economics or ecology, but to the lost credibility and disillusionment among parishioners over the Vatican’s continued failure to respond adequately to cases of child abuse by priests. Despite millions of dollars in compensation, victims and their advocates complain that colluders among bishops and cardinals have still not been properly dealt with.

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

MILWAUKEE (WI)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Two remarks by Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki show just how deceptive and callous he is.

First, he said “Nothing can be enough to restore, basically, what was lost to the victims.”

Lost? We didn’t “lose” our childhoods and faith and trust and joy. They were stolen from us by clerics who committed and concealed heinous crimes.

[WTMJ]

Second, he pledged to “take a look at” removing the bas-relief in the cathedral showing disgraced and resigned Archbishop Rembert Weakland alongside children.

[BishopAccountability.org]

Take a look at? Listecki claims he wants healing. Then why delay removing cathedral showing disgraced Archbishop Rembert Weakland alongside children? We’ll never know how many kids were hurt on Weakland’s watch because he shrewdly and consistently hid predator priests and his own expensive, hurtful sexual misdeeds.

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

CANADA/MALTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, Aug. 7

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 who is wanted in Canada walks free today in Malta. We hope Canadian authorities will move quickly to apprehend him before he disappears.

[Times of Malta]

Fr. Godwin Scerri has been paroled. He had been found guilty of sexual abusing young boys. He is wanted by the Ontario provincial police having avoided prosecution there two decades ago when he fled to Malta.

Scerri belongs to a Catholic religious order called the Missionary Society of St Paul.

We beg anyone who saw, suspected or suffered Scerri’s crimes – in Canada, Malta or elsewhere – to find courage, speak up, call police, expose wrongdoers and protect kids. We urge Catholic officials in Canada to use pulpit announcements, church bulletins and parish websites to warn parents, police, parishioners and the public about Scerri.

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

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter – Global Sisters Report

by Betty D. Thompson Aug. 6, 2015

Think of a conflict that’s painful to you. What do you do? How do you choose?

Imagine being publicly chastised by the Vatican. Now what?

The Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) spent three years in private conversations with the bishop-delegates of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), which led to a joint final report in April 2015. A month later, LCWR issued a statement and spoke at length with National Catholic Reporter, Catholic News Service, the National Catholic Register, The New York Times and other media outlets.

Sister of Loretto Jeannine Gramick suffered more than a decade of Vatican investigation because of the ground-breaking, heroic ministry she co-founded. She chose to share her experiences publicly, believing that, “Through the media, we in the Catholic community can become informed and learn how to deal with conflict in an adult and Christian way.” She found that, “Openness about the discussions during my own investigative process gave me an immense sense of freedom and a loss of fear that have enabled me to be more honest than I have ever been.”

Comparing her experience with that of LCWR, Sister Jeannine states that she believes that LCWR “chose the path of secrecy and self-silencing” because they offer no details of their conversations about the CDF’s charges and because she believes the joint final report will constrain them.

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

MASSACHUSETTS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, Aug. 7, 2015

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)

Shame on everyone involved in the effort to sell photos of Boston’s most notorious predator priest. We hope the Department of Correction’s investigation will be swift but thorough. And we hope the wrongdoers will be caught and harshly punished.

Shame on these callous, selfish people. Shame on anyone who bids on or buys this kind of material.

Last year, in a similar case, a Toledo man is trying to profit from the brutal slaying of a nun (Sr. Margaret Ann Pahl) by selling paraphernalia related to the convicted murderer, a Toledo priest (Fr. Gerald Robinson) who has also been accused of molesting a child.

(Toledo Catholic officials then rubbed salt in Sr. Pahl’s family’s wounds by burying Fr. Robinson as a priest in good standing. And before that, Vatican officials who refused to promptly defrock a convicted murderer.)

So called “entrepreneurs” seek to make money off of these grisly crimes. Shame on everyone involved.

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

MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, Aug. 7

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

“Openness and transparency.” That’s what Archbishop Robert Carlson keeps promising. But he keeps breaking this promise.

[St. Louis Post-Dispatch]

In 2009 (the year Carlson came to St. Louis), alleged child sex crimes at a Catholic school were reported to police. Carlson and his colleagues kept silent.

Last month, another child sex abuse and cover up suit was filed against the archdiocese. Carlson and his colleagues kept silent.

That heartbreaking lawsuit says that a 14 year old girl was repeatedly abused by a Catholic coach. She’s now 20 and is sitting in prison because she turned to drugs to numb her pain. Our hearts ache for her.

Coach Martin Weiler reportedly hurt the girl at Valle Catholic school in Ste. Genevieve between 2007-2009. He committed suicide.

The suit says Weiler took kids “to his home” and had “brazenly close, inappropriate relationships” with kids. It also says that that other church and school staff “observed Weiler’s “interest” in kids and knew that he “spent time alone” with youngsters. (There is reportedly one other victim.)

Will we ever see Catholic officials here voluntarily disclose a single child sex abuse case by a church or school employee? For six years, Carlson hid Weiler’s crimes. When will he find the courage to stop his self-serving secrecy?

NOTE – The alleged victim is represented by Webster Groves attorneys James Onder and William Wylie Blair (314 963 9000).

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KENYA
Daily Nation

By EUNICE KILONZO

By SAMUEL KARANJA

The Catholic Church was told on Wednesday to stay away from the polio vaccine debate.

Health Cabinet Secretary James Macharia said the arguments over the vaccine’s safety “will cause total confusion and children will continue dying”.

Speaking when he launched a document on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases, the CS appealed to the church to let medical experts do their work.

“We respect the church but if we try to manage health through individual beliefs, it will be difficult. Let us look at the bigger picture as this is a global campaign,” he said.

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

MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, Aug. 7

Statement by Frank Meuers, Minnesota SNAP leader, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (952-334-5180, frankameuers@gmail.com)

About 407 abuse victims of Twin Cities child molesting Catholic clerics have stepped forward in just a few months. Now, there’s a risk that the extent of the abuse and cover up crisis will be understated.

[Star Tribune]

Starting this week, many people, including journalists, will be inclined to use that number – 407 victims – to describe the crisis in the St. Paul Archdiocese. They should not do so. For the sake of accuracy and healing, all of us should emphasize that this figure is artificially low.

Most child sex abuse victims tell no one. Most take no legal steps. We suspect that’s especially true of clergy sex abuse victims, who fear bringing shame or discomfort to their families, many of whom still worship at the very parishes where the crimes happened.

So let’s be careful. Let’s say “a minimum of 407 alleged victims.”

Similarly, we should be accurate about the number of predatory priests, nuns, brothers, seminarians and bishops in the Twin Cities. A credible website, BishopAccountability.org, lists 64 publicly accused Twin Cities predator clerics. But we strongly suspect the real figure is two or three or four times higher. (Few child sex abuse victims are able or willing to report their trauma. Timid prosecutors, overworked police, limited evidence, shrewd predators, church ‘enablers’ and archaic statutes of limitations prevent most victims from taking legal action against those who assaulted them as kids.)

We help no one but wrongdoers when we underestimate how widespread and devastating this on-going crisis really is.

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OSTERREICH
Kurier

[A monk from the Lambach Monastery monk will have to stand trial on suspicion of aggravated sexual abuse of a child. “The prosecution is finished,” says Michaela Breier, spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office of Linz, in the KURIER interview.]

.Ein Mönch des Stiftes Lambach wird sich wegen des Verdachts des schweren sexuellen Missbrauchs eines Kindes vor Gericht verantworten müssen. “Die Anklage ist fertig”, bestätigt Michaela Breier, Sprecherin der Staatsanwaltschaft Linz, im KURIER-Gespräch.

Der 72-Jährige soll am 11. Mai in Linz Sex gegen Bezahlung mit zwei Strichern gehabt haben. Einer davon war allerdings erst zwölf Jahre alt. Zum Tatzeitpunkt soll der Pater stark betrunken gewesen sein, er wurde festgenommen. Seit seiner Entlassung aus der Untersuchungshaft am 27. Mai hält sich der Verdächtige bei seinen Mitbrüdern im Kloster Lambach auf. Dort verbüßt er eine Art Hausarrest und kommt mit Besuchern nicht mehr in Kontakt. Als Seelsorger ist er – wie berichtet – suspendiert.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Hertfordshire Constabulary

JOINT STATEMENT HERTFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL AND HERTFORDSHIRE CONSTABULARY IN RELATION TO THE CLOSURE OF LL CAMPS AMERICAN CAMP IN MERRY HILL, BUSHEY

8/7/2015

The privately run LL Camps American Camp in Merry Hill, Bushey, has been suspended by OFSTED.

A twenty seven year old man from Borehamwood has been arrested on suspicion of possession of indecent images of children and has been bailed until September.

Hertfordshire Constabulary, Hertfordshire County Council and OFSTED and are working together on this issue and the safety and welfare of children is the top priority.

Q: How do I know if my child has been affected?

A: Welfare of children is the first priority of OFSTED and that is why the camp has been suspended.

Swift action will be taken should the investigation reveal that any child has been affected and families will be contacted direct.

If you do have any specific concerns about how your child, contact Hertfordshire County Council on Telephone 0300 123 4043 and ask to make a referral to Children’s Services.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The JC

EXCLUSIVE

By Sandy Rashty, August 7, 2015

Police have confirmed that LL Camps in Hertfordshire was shut down after a man was arrested on suspicion of possession of indecent images of children.

The privately-run children’s summer camp, which is popular with Jewish families, was shut down on Thursday with no advance notice.

A police spokesman said the camp, for children aged 3-14 years old, was shut after the 27-year-old man was arrested on Wednesday.

The spokesman added that “the pictures may have been taken of children at the camp, but we don’t know”.

He said no other camps in the area had been shut down.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Herald

Friday, August 7, 2015

By: Laurel J. Sweet, Lindsay Kalter

Prison officials are investigating gruesome photos purported to be that of a murdered pedophile ex-priest, who was part of the child molestation scandal that hit the Catholic church in Boston.

The images are said to be of the dead body of John Geoghan, a former Roman Catholic priest who was convicted of molesting more than 100 children. They were posted on the Facebook page of a so-called “murderabilia” website called “Serial Killers Ink.”

Geoghan was killed in 2003 while in his prison cell by convicted murderer Joseph L. Druce. On his autopsy report, it says Geoghan died of ligature strangulation and blunt chest trauma.

The photos are being sold on 8-inch by 11-inch prints that are said to have been signed by Druce himself, the post states.

“A very unique item as signed pictures of a murdered victim by the killer is highly unusual. One of a kind item,” the posting boasts. The photos were still on the Facebook site late last night.

Darren Duarte, spokesman for the state Department of Correction, said the DOC has been alerted to the photos and is investigating.

Mitchell Garabedian, who has represented 149 victims of Geoghan, said his clients “would gain no satisfaction in knowing that such publications on social media are being used for such purposes.”

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ISRAEL
Arutz Sheva

By Tova Dvorin

Ezra Sheinberg has “repented” from misdeeds he apparently never committed, he claimed wildly Friday, after denying he ever sexually abused the 13 women who filed claims against him.

“I have never threatened any of the women,” Sheinberg stated Friday, in an interview with Yediot Aharonot. “The opposite is true. I tried and I was able to help many of them the most in their times of need and when they were subjected to great distress.”

Sheinberg also boasted throughout the interview about his alleged prestige – and said that it’s the only reason he is being accused of sexual assault.

“Many knocked on my door and asked my advice, including familiar names from the Jewish Home and some well-known and rich businessmen,” he stated. “I have become well-liked and accepted, and naturally it creates envy and anger among some parties, who were looking for a way to hurt me.”

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CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times

By VERONICA ROCHA

A Santeria priest has been accused of sexually assaulting a girl during what he claimed were healing rituals, Montebello police said Thursday.

Police are trying to find Pablo Pinto Mata, 46 — known as a “Santero,” or priest — who often performed healing rituals at his business, Los Angeles Import, in the 2400 block of Whittier Boulevard in Montebello, police said.

But police said his so-called healing rituals were a ploy used to assault a teenager. Montebello detectives have been chasing Mata since 2013, but he has managed to elude them.

In 2013, Mata performed three healing rituals on a 16-year-old girl, police said. During those incidents, the girl had to disrobe. The third time, Mata forced the girl to disrobe and he sexually assaulted her, police said.

Mata told her the assault was part of a ritual common in Santeria, a faith of the Caribbean.

Police think there may be other victims who were sexually assaulted.

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CALIFORNIA
KTLA

AUGUST 6, 2015, BY KENNEDY RYAN

A man known as a Santeria priest was being sought Wednesday after allegedly sexually assaulting a girl in Montebello during what he claimed were healing rituals, police said.

Pablo Pinto Mata conducted the rituals at his import business on W. Whittier Boulevard, according to a new release from the Montebello Police Department.

In late 2013, Mata allegedly conducted three healing rituals on a 16-year-old girl during which he had her disrobe.

On the last visit, Mata was accused of sexually assaulting her, while claiming it was part of the healing ritual, the release stated.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Daily Beast

Lizzie Crocker

Margie Winters was fired from her Catholic elementary school after it emerged she had married her female partner. Now she’s taking on the church hierarchy, with the support of many parents.

Until recently, Margie Winters was a devoted teacher at the Waldron Mercy Academy, a Roman Catholic elementary school in Philadelphia where she had served as director of Religious Education for eight years.

Winters was hired at Waldron Mercy in August 2007, three months after she married her longtime partner, Andrea Vettori.

Same-sex marriage is forbidden under the official teachings of the Church, so Winters was transparent with Waldron Principal Nell Stetser about her marriage during the hiring process.

Winters says Stetser encouraged her to be open with the faculty and staff, but warned her to be careful before disclosing her relationship to parents, some of whom were more conservative than others.

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

IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Friday, August 07, 2015

By Conall Ó Fátharta
Irish Examiner Reporter

The 2014 inter-departmental report on mother-and-baby homes listed just 25 infant deaths in Bessborough mother-and-baby home, in Cork, despite two departments having figures that showed 500 deaths.

The report, published in the wake of the Tuam deaths scandal in 2014, listed 25 infant deaths at Bessborough.

This figure was taken from the 1934-35 annual report of the Department of Local Government and Public Health, which, as its title suggests, is a report on a single year and which covered the entire country.

However, both the Department of Health and Department of Children and Youth Affairs had a 2012 HSE report which showed that 478 children died at Bessborough from 1934 until 1953 (the only years for which deaths were recorded) — that’s almost one infant a fortnight for nearly two decades. This was a higher death rate than revealed by Catherine Corless, at Tuam, two years later, in 2014.

The 478 figure was also taken from the death register, which the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary Order, who ran Bessborough, handed over to the HSE in 2011. The HSE report described the infant death rate as “wholly epidemic”, “shocking” and a “cause for serious consternation”.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Australian Associated Press
Thursday 6 August 2015

Cardinal George Pell should give evidence to the child abuse royal commission in Ballarat, not Melbourne, Victorian premier Daniel Andrews has said.

The commission has moved the second stage of public hearings into clergy abuse in the Ballarat diocese to Melbourne for logistical reasons, but Ballarat MPs want the former local priest’s evidence to be heard in the regional city.

“I’m confident that the royal commission will do the right thing and come and hear evidence that is directly relevant to the people of Ballarat in that great city,” Andrews told reporters on Friday.

The premier said it was respectful and appropriate to hear at least the most high-profile witnesses in Ballarat.

“The people of Ballarat, survivors and their families, those who’ve spent so much time dealing with the grief and the pain and the loss of this terrible abuse, I think they’re entitled to hear evidence in their own local area,” he said.

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TEXAS
CNN

[with video]

“The Hunt With John Walsh” airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CNN. Got a tip? Call 1-866-THE-HUNT (In Mexico: 0188000990546) or click here.

(CNN) As young girls in the 1990s, Shyama Rose and sisters Kate and Vesla Tonnessen loved living in Barsana Dham, the Austin, Texas, ashram of the International Society for Divine Love.

“Being a kid at Barsana Dham was pretty amazing,” Kate Tonnessen, now in her 30s, recalled. “To live on 200 acres of what was about as wild land as you can get in Texas.”

They, their parents and other families moved to the ashram in pursuit of enlightenment under the guidance of their spiritual leader, Prakashanand Saraswati, whom they called “Swamiji,” an honorific Hindu term for a guru.

“It was sort of understood that Swamiji was God, just on earth,” Vesla Tonnessen told CNN’s “The Hunt with John Walsh.” “He held absolute power over anything.”

The children of the ashram loved Saraswati. “We always felt as kids that he seemed like an Indian version of Santa Claus,” said Kate Tonnessen.

“He was very affectionate with everybody, and then the kids, he was really, like, cuddly and he’d give you hugs and kisses that just felt like your grandpa. But then sometime his kisses got weird.”

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TEXAS
KSAT

By Diana J Winters
Producer

SAN ANTONIO – A Hays County fugitive convicted of nearly two dozen counts of child molestation will be featured on Sunday evening’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Hunt.”

The show features John Walsh, crime victims’ activist and spokesman for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

According to the U.S. Marshals Service, Swami Prakashanand Saraswati, also known to his spiritual followers as Swamiji, failed to appear in court on March 7, 2011, and has not been seen since.

The court date stems from a 2007 incident in which three female victims of Barsana Dham, an ashram in northern Hays County, made an outcry to the Hays County Sheriff’s Office, alleging they had been abused in the ashram at the hands of Saraswati.

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TEXAS
International Business Times

By Jayalakshmi K
August 7, 2015

Authorities may be no closer to hunting down a “rogue” Indian guru who abused children at an ashram in Texas, but two of the girls who suffered at his hands still hope that Prakashanand Saraswati will be brought to justice.

After enduring much torment, and amid a lack of support from their parents, three American girls managed to get a court to sentence Saraswati to 14 years of imprisonment.

But the man escaped, probably to India from where he had come to the US.

The hunt has continued for four years now and the Tonnessen sisters hope justice will prevail.

“He’s still out there and he’s still abusing people,” Vesla Tonnessen told CNN’s The Hunt. “I don’t think that will stop until he’s imprisoned.”

CNN traces the story back to the 90s when the girls and their parents lived on the 200-acre wild land at Barsana Dham, the ashram of the International Society for Divine Love in Austin.

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MISSOURI
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Lawsuit filed against St. Louis archdiocese alleges abuse by high school coach

By Lilly Fowler

A sexual abuse lawsuit involving a former coach at a Roman Catholic high school has been filed against the Archdiocese of St. Louis.

The lawsuit, filed last week in Ste. Genevieve Circuit Court, claims a former student at Valle Catholic High School in Ste. Genevieve, Mo., was sexually abused by Martin Weiler, a coach who, according to the lawsuit, committed suicide in 2009.

Weiler met the plaintiff, only known in court documents as K.B., when she was 14, before she enrolled at Valle in 2007.

Weiler began a sexual relationship with the student, according to court documents, and sexually abused the student in the locker room, weight room and faculty parking lot.

By the summer of 2008, Weiler and the student were having sex, according to the lawsuit.

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SCOTLAND
The National

AUGUST 7TH, 2015

ANDREW LEARMONTH

POLICE Scotland are investigating claims of historic abuse at Pluscarden Abbey in Moray.

The National understands allegations centre on the violent sexual abuse of a young boy and the physical bodily harm to two other young boys. Although details are scarce, it is believed the abuses took place in the 1960s and 1980s. Two men have separately come forward to discuss the alleged abuse with White Flowers Alba, a support and advocacy group for survivors of child sex abuse.

The Benedictine Abbey is a popular retreat for Christians and holiday makers, and has been a training place for novices.

Yesterday, the police were criticised by the White Flowers Campaign, for not acting appropriately when the group took the complaints of the two men to officers.

Andi Lavery, from the group, told The National that after a disastrous conversation with a police call handler in mid-July he then had to enlist the help of Barnardo’s Scotland director Martin Crewe to take the matter up with a senior officer.

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MALTA
Malta Independent

Updated: Government does not agree with release on parole of ‘priest’ guilty of sexual abuse

The release of defrocked priest Godwin Scerri on parole was not taken by the Church but by the Parole Board, the Curia said in a statement this morning.

It was referring to media reports that Godwin Scerri will be released today, three years into his five year sentence after he was found guilty of sexually abusing minors under his care at St Joseph Home, Santa Venera.

“With reference to media reports, the Church Commission for the Safeguarding of Children and Vulnerable Adults would like to clarify that decisions on prisoners being granted parole are taken by the Parole Board.

“The decision taken by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in October 2011, by means of which Br Godwin Scerri was removed from the clerical state, remains unchanged.”

Another priest, Carmelo Pulis, who has also since been defrocked, had been sentenced to six years in prison for similar offences.

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MALTA
Times of Malta

The Parole Board’s decision to grant pedophile priest Godwin Scerri parole did not reflect the government’s position, the government said in a statement today.

It added that it however respected the independence of the board.

Mr Scerri, a defrocked priest, was three years ago jailed five years after he was found guilty of sexual abuse on young boys in his care.

He will get out of jail on parole today.

Earlier today, the Church Commission for the Safeguarding of Children and Vulnerable Adults said that decisions on prisoners being granted parole were taken by the Parole Board.

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UNITED STATES
Pope Crimes & Vatican Evils

Paris Arrow

Introduction: Read our related article, REBUTTAL: Gallup ‘Confidence in Religion at New Low, but Not Among Catholics’. As Catholics increase, more churches are closed and sold = Catholic math! LOL http://pope-francis-con-christ.blogspot.ca/2015/06/rebuttalgallup-confidence-in-religion.html

Within two months, in June and July, criminal charges have been laid by a government – with the police – against an entire Roman Catholic archdiocese, the first in the US, the second in Oslo, Norway, and the world is watching how the Vatican (chameleon) will try to get away with it (unscathed – like Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston who paid $100 million dollars and Cardinal Mahony in Los Angeles who paid more than $660 million in compensation to victims of pedophile priests they covered-up, read morehttp://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2013/01/los-angeles-files-mahony-must-be-jailed.html )

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UNITED KINGDOM
Mirror

BY RUSSELL MYERS

Guy Marsden said he and three friends were taken to flats across the capital where “horrific, unbelievable” abuse took place

The nephew of vile paedophile DJ Jimmy Savile has claimed his pal was sexually abused by former Tory Prime Minister Ted Heath.

Guy Marsden said his friend was just 14 at the time and the alleged sex attack on him happened at a party in London during the 1970s.

Mr Marsden, 61, said he and three mates, aged between 13 to 16, were ferried across London from flat to flat, where sexual abuse took place.

He claimed police are aware of the allegations by his friend, who wants to remain anonymous because he is now married with two children.

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CALIFORNIA
CBS Los Angeles

MONTEBELLO (CBSLA.com) — Police sought the public’s help on Thursday to locate a 46-year-old man who is wanted in connection with the rape of a minor in Montebello.

Pablo Pinto Mata, of Montebello, is accused of conducting three healing rituals to a 16-year-old female at his business, Los Angeles Imports, located in the 2400 block of West Whittier Boulevard, according to the Montebello Police Department.

Officers explained Mata is known to be a “Santero,” which is also referred to as a Santeria Priest.

In late 2013, he is suspected of having the victim disrobe during all of the healing rituals.

According to police, Mata forced the minor to disrobe on her last visit before he sexually assaulted her.

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CALIFORNIA
My News LA

POSTED BY DEBBIE L. SKLAR ON AUGUST 6, 2015

Authorities Thursday sought the public’s help to find a man who allegedly raped a 16-year-old girl while conducting “healing rituals” at his business in Montebello.

Known as a “Santero” or Santeria priest, Pablo Pinto Mata allegedly conducted the rituals at Los Angeles Imports, 2412 W. Whittier Blvd., the Montebello Police Department reported.

“In late 2013, Mata conducted three healing rituals (involving) a 16- year-old female, and had her disrobe,” according to a police statement. “On the last visit, Mata forced the minor to disrobe and sexually assaulted her. Mata told the minor the assault was part of the healing ritual.”

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REPUBLICA DOMINICANA
Noticias Sin

[Public Prosecutor asks for speedy justice in case exnuncio Josef Wesolowski.]

SANTO DOMINGO, República Dominicana.- El Ministerio Público pide pronta justicia para las víctimas dominicanas en el caso del exnuncio Josef Wesolowski acusado de pederastia y de posesión de material pornográfico.

El procurador de la República considera que el Estado Vaticano ha sido un gran colaborador para procesar al ex embajador religioso en la República Dominicana.

De su lado la Fiscal del Distrito Yeni Berenice dijo que espera que este aplazamiento se decida en un tiempo razonable ya que aún se desconoce la fecha en la que se conocerá la primera audiencia de este caso.

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OSTERREICH
Badener Zeitung

[Father Fabian of Austria was sentenced to four years in prison for rape and stalking. That was last year. He always denied the allegations and appealed. Last week there was a new judgment with reducred penalities.]

TRAISKIRCHEN. – Vier Jahre Haft: So lautete voriges Jahr das Urteil gegen Pater Fabian. Der hatte die Vorwürfe, die unter anderem auf Vergewaltigung und Stalking lauteten, stets bestritten und Berufung eingelegt. Vorige Woche gab es ein neues Urteil mit reduziertem Strafmaß. Auch dagegen hat Pater Fabian mit seinen beiden Anwälten eine Nichtigkeitsbeschwerde eingebracht.

Vergewaltigung, Stalking, Missbrauch einer wehrlosen Person – die Liste der Vorwürfe gegen Pater Fabian, den einstigen Stadtpfarrer von Traiskirchen, ist lang. Unter anderem soll er den jungen Mann, der gegen Pater Fabian Anzeige erstattet hatte, mit Betäubungsmitteln gefügig gemacht haben. Pater Fabian hat die Vorwürfe allerdings stets bestritten. Sämtliche Kontakte, gemeinsame Urlaube, aber auch sexuelle Kontakte, hätten freiwillig stattgefunden.

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DELAWARE
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, Aug. 6

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

We’re thrilled that Delaware officials are prosecuting church staff who claim they have no duty to report known or suspected child sex crimes to police.

[The News Journal]

A teacher’s aide, Katheryn Harris Carmean White, repeatedly abused a boy. Elders of her church, a Jehovah’s Witnesses congregation in Seaford, reportedly knew of the crimes but told no one. Now, the attorney general’s office is prosecuting them. Thank heavens.

Too often, law enforcement go after those who commit but not those who conceal child sex crimes. This must change.

Little or nothing can deter those who perpetrate crimes against kids. But swift and severe punishment can deter those who enable crimes against kids.

Child molesters are usually sick, compulsively driven individuals. No threat of consequences will likely make them stop. Their employers and colleagues, however, are usually not sick, compulsively driven individuals. Real consequences – like jail terms, expensive fines and public exposure – will likely make them call police when they fear kids are being hurt.

The elders, Joel Mulchansingh and William Perkins, should be ashamed of themselves. We hope they’ll soon be locked up. And we hope this case will prod other timid and self-serving church officials learn that they must stop putting their comfort, careers and congregational reputations above the safety of boys and girls.

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

Several days ago, I offered you an initial “teaser” report from the recent SNAP conference in Alexandria, Virgina. In that report, I told you how impressed I was by the sizable contingent of folks from the new SNAP-Menno chapter — people coming out of the Mennonite tradition, with years of activist experience dealing with issues of sexual violence (and exclusion and violence against LGBT people, it should be also noted) in their own religious community.

As I noted in my report, one of the people I had the honor to meet at the SNAP gathering was Ruth Krall, a leading sexual violence activist (with an impressive academic and professional background) connected to the Mennonite tradition. Her name will no doubt be familiar to anyone who has read this blog for some time now. I offered several snippets from Ruth’s presentation on the final day of the SNAP conference. I’m now delighted to be able to share with you the presentation itself, which Ruth will subsequently publish on her Enduring Space blog. Here’s Ruth’s stellar presentation:

Activism in a Mennonite Voice

Ruth E. Krall, MSN, Ph.D. (1)
Professor Emeritus, Goshen College, Goshen, IN

Introductory Comments

During the drive here from the airport on Thursday evening, I was reminded once again that clergy sexual violence and morally corrupted institutions both resemble kudzu. (3) For those of you who do not recognize kudzu, the Washington beltway is lined with it. It is an invasive vine that smothers and kills all other plant forms in its path. It must be aggressively and persistently managed to control its invasive and noxious presence.

Who Are These Mennonites?

We Mennonites are the twentieth-first-century descendents of the 16th-century Reformation Anabaptists. In many ways we are neither Catholic nor Protestant.

In the sixteenth century, our faith ancestors represented a radical divergence from both groups as early as 1530 or 1540. Roman Catholic and Protestant princes and priests hunted down, imprisoned, and killed our ancestors. (4)

Our principal differences in belief from the Christian majority include: 1] adult confessions of faith and adult baptism; 2] a radical separation of church and state; 3] a refusal to carry or use the nation-state’s weapons; 4] communitarian discernment; and 5] discipleship — faithfully following in the footsteps of Jesus of Nazareth.

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UNITED STATES
Amazon

by Michael Emerton (Author), Patrick Emerton (Author), & 1 more

Day after day in 2002, the Boston Globe’s Spotlight Team was unearthing secrets that had been kept in the Roman Catholic crypt. The bones of tens of thousands of children who had been sexually abused by priests had been found. It was revealed that the crimes had been covered up, and the perpetrators moved to unsuspecting parishes to molest again and again. Church administrators were given clear directives on how to avoid prosecution by hiding the criminals and silencing the victims. A soul corroding contagion was allowed to spread, psychological wounds festered, and childhoods were infected with fear. Adult¬hoods were crippled, as priests donned robes, lifted The Word, and proclaimed themselves to be moral leaders.

This is the story of how one man remembered that he was a victim when he read those articles in the Globe. It is the story of how he came to terms with this, and how he then turned his tragedy into a victory for himself, and for others. Through the power of his witness, with the power of his truth, and in the emancipation of his voice this one man stands as an example for others to see. He makes a call for others to hear, and offers a way for those suffering under the weight of secrets to be freed. This man tells his story.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

CHRIS BRENNAN, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
LAST UPDATED: Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Margie Winters, accompanied by about 50 supporters and carrying a box of petitions signed by 23,000 people who want her reinstated as a Catholic school educator, could not get in the front door.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s Center City offices were on lockdown Monday afternoon. A security guard politely but firmly refused to allow Winters to enter the building.

“Because I’m so threatening,” Winters joked after handing the box to the guard and asking him to deliver it to Archbishop Charles J. Chaput.

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CALIFORNIA
National Catholic Reporter – Global Sisters Report

by Georgia Perry Aug. 5, 2015

This summer, Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary have made national headlines over their conflict with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles about who had the right to sell the sisters’ villa-style convent in the city’s hip Los Feliz neighborhood. The 22,000 square foot property, which boasts views of downtown Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Mountains, caught the eye of pop singer Katy Perry, who reportedly has plans to “sip green tea and find herself” in the property’s meditation garden.

The archdiocese attempted to sell the property to Perry for about $14.5 million, but at the same time, two of the last five living IHM sisters tried a sale of their own, to local restaurateur Dana Hollister, for $15.5 million. The story — Nuns in Fight with Katy Perry — or some iteration of that, found its way to just about every news outlet imaginable: The New York Times, “Good Morning America” and, of course, the Los Angeles Times, which broke the story.

The conflict centers on who officially controls the property, and, therefore, who has a right to sell it. The IHM sisters already have a conflicted history with the archdiocese: In 1970 around 90 percent of them left the order as a result of a dispute with then-Archbishop Cardinal James McIntyre over efforts the sisters were making to modernize following Vatican II. The sisters who left the order formed an independent lay community called the Immaculate Heart Community. Of those who remained in the order, only five are still living.

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ARGENTINA
Pagina 12

[During the presentation, Malfa said the protocol will serve to “help victims find support and reconciliation.” The text of the “Guide Lines-performance” indicates that the bishopric “adheres to the standards of transparency and accountability expressed (…) by the Holy See regarding the sexual abuse of children”, which “is high willingness to cooperate with the wider society and with the national and provincial authorities. ” The document, which referred to the complainant as “alleged victims”, directs the church authorities cooperate “with the secular judicial authority as appropriate.”]

La Conferencia Episcopal dio a conocer una guía, aprobada por el Vaticano, que indica a autoridades eclesiásticas cómo proceder ante las denuncias, explica tipos de acción penal e informa cuándo prescribe el delito. “No hay que subestimar la denuncia”, señaló la CEA.

La Conferencia Episcopal Argentina dio a conocer un protocolo sobre cómo deben proceder las autoridades eclesiásticas “en el caso de denuncias de abusos sexuales en los que los acusados sean clérigos y las presuntas víctimas sean menores de edad (o personas a ellos equiparados)”. El texto, aprobado en la Asamblea Plenaria que la Conferencia Episcopal Argentina (CEA) mantuvo en abril de 2013, fue presentado ayer por el secretario general de la entidad, Carlos Malfa, en un curso de actualización dictado en la Universidad Católica Argentina (UCA). Durante el encuentro, Malfa dijo que la Iglesia “ha socavado su credibilidad y su confianza” por su manejo de las denuncias de abusos sexuales cometidos por sacerdotes, y agregó que “hay que tener valentía y humildad, como reclama el papa Francisco, para pedir perdón”. El secretario general de la entidad de obispos advirtió, además: “No hay que subestimar ninguna denuncia. Ninguna. De haber actuado así, nos hubiéramos ahorrado muchos problemas”

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel

The clergy sex abuse victim who chairs the Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s creditors committee called the $21 million settlement announced this week “the lesser of two evils,” saying the alternative would have been far worse for far more survivors.

“I can’t say they were happy,” Charles Linneman of Sugar Grove, Ill., said of the five-member creditors committee that signed off on the agreement with the archdiocese.

“I think we were forced into a corner,” he said. “They (the archdiocese) had every intention of throwing out as many cases as possible and offering a lot less than was finally agreed to in the settlement.”

The archdiocese announced on Tuesday that it would pay $21 million to compensate 330 of the estimated 570 victims who filed claims in the bankruptcy. Of the 570, 157 would receive no payment, and 92 would get $2,000 each.

“We had to fight to get that number to 330,” said Linneman. “We didn’t want anyone thrown out.”

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

Jeremy Corbyn has called for a standing commission on child abuse.

He said the official inquiry into the “trauma” of victims could become permanent and vowed there should be no cover-ups for prominent people.

The Labour leadership contender was asked about the investigation into ex-prime minister Sir Edward Heath and other police probes during a debate in West Belfast.

“There has to be a standing commission to investigate this, the trauma that victims of childhood sexual abuse go through and carry it with them for the rest of their lives.

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ARGENTINA
La Conferencia Episcopal Argentina

[Action Guide on cases of sexual abuse.
Líneas – Guía de Actuación sobre los casos de abuso sexual.]

Mons. Malfa presentó las Líneas-guía de actuación en caso de denuncias por abuso.

[Mons. Malfa presented the guide lines of action in case of complaints of abuse.]

El Secretario General de la Conferencia Episcopal Argentina, Mons. Carlos Malfa, presentó en la tarde del miércoles 5 de agosto en la Facultad de Derecho Canónico de Bs. As. las Líneas Guía de Actuación en el caso de denuncias de abusos sexuales a menores en los que los acusados sean clérigos.

A continuación presentamos el texto completo de la alocución de Mons. Malfa:

“Los obispos de la Conferencia Episcopal Argentina renovamos nuestro compromiso con la misión recibida del Señor de velar sobre el rebaño que nos ha sido confiado y que Él mismo adquirió con su sangre (cf. Hech 20, 24). La caridad del Buen Pastor nos hace velar especialmente sobre los más pequeños y vulnerables.

Atendiendo a lo dispuesto por la Santa Sede, el Episcopado ha elaborado estas Líneas-guía para una actuación adecuada a las circunstancias locales. Ellas han sido preparadas por la CEMIN junto con canonistas docentes de esta Facultad de Derecho Canónico y la colaboración de otros especialistas en Derecho Penal civil y en psicología. La Conferencia Episcopal agradece el trabajo realizado, el cual fue aprobado por unanimidad en la Asamblea Plenaria de abril de 2013 y posteriormente enviadas a la Santa Sede para su revisión.

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ARGENTINA
Los Andes

La Conferencia Episcopal Argentina pidió hoy perdón por los casos de abusos sexuales contra menores de edad perpetrados por clérigos, al presentar una guía de actuación ante denuncias en respuesta al pedido del Papa de “tolerancia cero” con quienes cometen este delito “aberrante”.

El protocolo para prevenir y actuar en casos de abusos sexuales perpetrados por obispos, sacerdotes o religiosos católicos fue presentado por el secretario general del Episcopado, monseñor Carlos Malfa, durante un acto en la Universidad Católica Argentina (UCA).

“Hay que tener valentía y humildad, como reclama el papa Francisco, para pedir perdón”, sostuvo, y admitió que la Iglesia “ha socavado su credibilidad y su confianza” por no haber actuado con firmeza ante las denuncias de abusos sexuales contra clérigos.

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ARGENTINA
Minuto Uno

[con el documento]

[The Argentina Episcopal Conference today released the guidelines to be followed in the case of allegations of sexual abuse in which the accused are alleged victims priests and minors.]

La Conferencia Episcopal Argentina difundió hoy los lineamientos a seguir en el caso de denuncias de abusos sexuales en los que los acusados sean sacerdotes y las presuntas víctimas menores de edad.

En sintonía con el minuciosos trabajo llevado adelante por el Vaticano en los últimos años y por expresas indicaciones del Papa Francisco a todos los obispos del mundo para que apliquen políticas de prevención de abuso sexual dentro de la Iglesia a la vez que tolerancia cero para aquellos religiosos que incurran en ese delito, los obispos argentinos dieron a conocer este mediodía el documento aprobado el pasado mes de abril.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Thursday, August 06, 2015

By Conall Ó Fátharta
Irish Examiner Reporter

The reaction of the Government to a shocking 2012 HSE report on Bessborough Mother and Baby Home has been instructive.

The revelations contained in the report have clearly put it in an uncomfortable position. Despite the shock displayed once the Tuam babies story went global — it is now clear that the Government had possession of a report showing a higher death rate in Bessborough almost two years earlier.

When the report, compiled as part of the HSE’s examination of the State’s role in the Magdalene Laundries as part of the McAleese inquiry, was made public by the Irish Examiner in June, along with equally disturbing material relating to Tuam Mother and Baby Home, the reaction of Government was to first deny it had ever seen it, then admit that, in fact, two departments had the report before finally labelling the entire study “conjecture”.

Even if you accept the “conjecture” line, it is impossible to get away from the finding on the number of infant deaths at Bessborough.
advertisement

They are worth repeating. Between 1934 and 1953, Bessborough’s Registration of Deaths ledger records a “shocking” 478 children as having died at the institution.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Thursday, August 06, 2015
Conall Ó Fátharta

The Mother and Baby Homes Commission has refused to answer questions on how its Confidential Committee — set up to gather testimony from survivors — will work.

The Irish Examiner posed a series of questions to the commission relating to the operation of the committee, which was set up to listen to the experiences of those who spent time in mother and baby homes.

The information pack sent by the commission to people wishing to give evidence states that their testimony will be heard by a committee member, with “an experienced person” taking notes in what is described as an informal process.

An audio recording will be taken with permission. It also states people will not require legal advice or assistance, although they may choose to have a solicitor accompany them.

If the person wishes to give evidence to the commission’s investigation then, with permission, “the recording may be used by the commission’s legal team” in relation to the person’s appearance before the Confidential Committee.

On foot of this, the Irish Examiner asked:

* Will all interviews with the Confidential Committee be recorded, unless a witness does not consent to this?
* Will a transcript and audio copy of the recording be provided to the witness?
* What is the area of expertise of the experienced person taking notes when a witness is being interviewed?
* Will a copy of those notes be sent to the witness?
* Will the witness have an opportunity to clarify anything s/he believes does not reflect her/his testimony?
* Will witnesses be given a copy of the general report of the Confidential Committee?

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

6 August, 2015

The hearing into the Jehovah’s Witnesses has adjourned until further notice.

Case Study 29 into the Jehovah’s Witnesses commenced on Monday 27 July 2015, inquiring into Jehovah’s Witnesses and Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Australia Ltd.

Further information regarding this public hearing will be announced in due course.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

6 August, 2015

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse will hear oral submissions in relation to Case Study 23 into Knox Grammar School on Monday 10 August 2015.

The public hearing commenced on 23 February 2015 and inquired into the response of Knox Grammar School in Wahroonga, New South Wales and the Uniting Church in Australia between 1970 and 2012 to concerns raised about inappropriate conduct by a number of teachers towards students at Knox Grammar School.

The oral submissions will commence at 10am at Royal Commission Hearing Room 1, Level 17, Governor Macquarie Tower, 1 Farrer Place, Sydney.

The oral submissions will also be streamed live on the Royal Commission website.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Conall Ó Fátharta
Irish Examiner Reporter

The Ombudsman has been criticised for its “bizarre” reasoning in refusing to uphold appeals from former residents of An Grianán seeking access to the Magdalene redress scheme.

The decision, granted on June 2, came on the same day the Irish Examiner revealed that evidence that An Grianán training centre and High Park Magdalene Laundry were “one and the same thing” was uncovered by the HSE in 2012.

Former residents of An Grianán, which was excluded fromthe McAleese inquiry, were denied access to thescheme as it was not considered a Magdalene laundry. It was on the same site as High Park Magdalene Laundry in Drumcondra, Dublin. It was included in the Residential Institutions Redress Board Scheme.

However, some former residents said they were not aware that this was the case and appealed their exclusion from the Magdalene scheme to theOmbudsman.

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DELAWARE
The News Journal

Jessica Masulli Reyes and James Fisher, The News Journal

A Delaware deputy attorney general will argue later this year that elders in a Jehovah’s Witnesses congregation in Seaford failed to report that a woman and 14-year-old boy, both members of the congregation, were having a sexual relationship.

The Department of Justice filed a civil lawsuit against the Seaford Kingdom Hall and two of the congregation’s elders in May 2014.

A Superior Court judge in Wilmington is scheduled to hear the case Nov. 9.

Authorities claimed the elders, Joel Mulchansingh and William Perkins, did not report the sexual abuse when it was disclosed to them. Delaware law requires individuals and organizations to report abuse immediately via a 24-hour state hotline.

James Liguori, the attorney representing the congregation, could not be reached for comment late Wednesday afternoon.

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DELAWARE
Daily Journal

By RANDALL CHASE Associated Press
August 05, 2015

DOVER, Delaware — The Delaware attorney general’s office is suing a Jehovah’s Witnesses congregation in Sussex County, claiming that elders failed to report an unlawful sexual relationship between a woman and a 14-year-old boy, both of whom were congregation members.

Oral arguments in the civil action are set for November.

Authorities say elders learned in January 2013 that Katheryn Harris Carmean White was having sex with the boy and failed to immediately call a child abuse hotline.

The congregation’s attorney argues that the elders are protected by clergy privilege from the reporting requirements, similar to the confidentiality of a church confessional.

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DELAWARE
Delaware Public Media

By JAMES DAWSON

The Delaware Attorney General’s office is suing a Laurel Jehovah’s Witness congregation, saying its leaders covered up a child sexual abuse case.

According to civil court documents, leaders of the Laurel Delaware Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses did not report a sexual relationship between a teenage boy and Katheryn Harris Carmean White – both members of the church.

White admitted having sex with the boy to congregation elders in January of 2013. Leaders learned of the relationship a few days beforehand, but didn’t report it as required by law.

She was convicted in November of that year and sentenced to six years in prison.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune

By Liam Ford
Chicago Tribune

A church usher sexually abused a 7-year-old girl attending a summer youth event at the Back of the Yards church where the man works, then was arrested when the girl told her older stepsister, who told the girl’s mother, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Richard K. Roberts, 51, was arrested Sunday at the Southwest Church of Christ, 1359 W. 51st St., after the girl’s mother went to the church, and the 7-year-old and the other children she had told about the abuse at the time pointed out Roberts as the man who had abused her, prosecutors said.

Roberts, who is charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse, was ordered held in lieu of $50,000 bail by Judge Laura Sullivan on Wednesday afternoon. Prosecutors did not give a specific date for the abuse.

Sometime between May 31 and Sunday, the girl went to a children’s event at the church along with her brother, 12, his friend, also 12, and the siblings’ cousin, 11, said Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney Kim Przekota. Roberts — an usher and a part-time employee — had gone through the neighborhood, knocking on doors to invite children to the event, prosecutors said.

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VIRGINIA/NORTH CAROLINA
Richmond Times-Dispatch

By LAURA KEBEDE Richmond Times-Dispatch

Richmond-area board members of a North Carolina-based nonprofit that does work in Haiti celebrated a recent verdict which they said symbolically exonerated executive director Michael Geilenfeld from accusations of child molestation.

Paul Kendrick, a Maine activist for sexual abuse victims, was ordered to pay $14.5 million to Geilenfeld and the charity after leading a four-year email campaign to hundreds of donors perpetuating false accusations, The Associated Press reported.

The trial in Maine included testimony of Willie Dell, a former Richmond councilwoman and longtime friend of the nonprofit, on the executive director’s behalf, as well as seven Haitian men who claimed Geilenfeld sexually abused them while at St. Joseph’s Home for Boys in Port-au-Prince.

Three of the 11 board members for Hearts with Haiti live in the Richmond area, and several churches in the area frequently send volunteers to the organization’s Wings of Hope home for children with disabilities, St. Joseph’s Home for Boys and Trinity House for program graduates’ business startups.

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

MILWAUKEE (WI)
PBS – Frontline

August 5, 2015, by Priyanka Boghani

It has been more than a decade since the Catholic Church became engulfed in lawsuits stemming from allegations of sexual abuse by clergy in the United States. On Tuesday, one of the largest cases in the scandal inched closer to a resolution after the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee announced that it would pay $21 million to around 330 alleged victims of abuse.

While the agreement would end the longest-running church bankruptcy in U.S. history, it also ranks among the smallest settlements to emerge from the scandal for a case of its size. If given final approval by a judge, the settlement would be the fourth largest in terms of the number of alleged victims, but 27th in terms of compensation, according to data compiled by the website BishopAccountability.org.

A key sticking point in negotiations was $57 million in archdiocese funds that was diverted into a cemetery trust, a move that shielded church dollars from the legal claims of abuse victims. In the 2014 FRONTLINE investigation Secrets of the Vatican, attorney Jeff Anderson said that plaintiffs had evidence showing that approval for the transfer came directly from the Vatican.

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UNITED STATES
Pope Crimes & Vatican Evils

Paris Arrow

Extolling the Boston Globe and its reportage of clergy abuse at its (olden) onset in 2002 –– by making a ‘Spotlight’ movie (with A-list actors LOL) and implementing a Columbia University Journalism School main case study on it –– is Vatican fairy tale come true because these two strategies will act as feel-good (deceptive) propaganda for the Catholic Church. Hollywood and Columbia University combined forces — will focus on one (archaic) spot in history — to divert attention away from the global reality of the heinous span of half-the-20th century Vatican crimes against humanity’s children – committed by the JP2 Army of thousands of bestial pedophile priests worldwide – throughout the USA, Europe, South America, as far as Australia — with the cooperation of cardinals and bishops who aided and abetted them and covered-them up.

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GEORGIA
First Coast News

BRUNSWICK, Ga. — A 26-year-old Brunswick elementary school teacher has resigned amid allegations of child molestation, authorities told First Coast News Tuesday.

William C. Lewis, 26, of Brunswick, was arrested Tuesday on two counts of child molestation, according to the Glynn County Sheriff’s Office.

An arrest warrant says the incident occurred at the “It Takes a Village” summer camp on July 6. Lewis allegedly touched and rubbed a ten year old boy and asked him if “this type of touching felt good.”

Lewis, who was hired as a first grade teacher in July 2012. He was slated to teach second grade classes at Altama Elementary this year. He was placed on leave following his arrest, a spokesperson for the Glynn County School District told First Coast News.

Lewis also served as a youth pastor at First Jordan Grove Baptist Church in Brunswick and was scheduled to lead a bible study Wednesday night.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Madeleine Baran
Aug 5, 2015

Now that Monday’s deadline for filing claims has passed, the bankruptcy case of the Twin Cities archdiocese moves to its next stage.

By the deadline, more than 600 claims had been filed, including 407 by alleged victims of clergy sex abuse.

What happens to these claims now?

First, they’ll be evaluated in the mediation that is already taking place with the archdiocese, its insurers and two creditors’ committees — one for parishes and one made up of abuse survivors.

They’ll be looking at each claim and deciding whether they think it’s valid. Arguments could arise over certain claims, as has happened in other bankruptcies.

This includes all claims — not just the abuse ones. There are 407 claims related to sexual abuse, but there are 262 from other people, parishes, schools, nonprofits and other groups. All of these need to be reviewed.

Once the claims are reviewed, parties to the mediation will need to reach a deal on a plan to pay creditors. If they are able to agree on a plan, a judge would likely need to approve it.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Newcastle’s Anglican Bishop Greg Thompson says he is preparing for the harsh realities that a royal commission probe into the diocese may bring.

In June this year Bishop Thompson apologised for the church’s handling of abuse, noting there had been a culture of intimidation and fear.

Bishop Thompson also confirmed that the church has paid more than $4 million to abuse survivors so far.

A police strike force is currently investigating the diocese and Bishop Thompson said the royal commission is due to hold hearings in 2016.

“There’s no accommodation any more for criminal behaviour,” he said.

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UNITED STATES
Bilgramage

William D. Lindsey

I don’t want to wear you out with excerpts from Robert Blair Kaiser’s book about Tom Doyle, Whistle. I do encourage you to consider buying it, because the proceeds from sale of the book go to groups like SNAP who are doing the important work of assisting survivors of religious sexual abuse. I encourage you to buy the book and read it for that reason, and also because it provides a good overview of the way the abuse crisis has unfolded in the Catholic church — though, as I tell Jerry in a remark here today, I do have my own strong reservations about how Kaiser treats the issue of homosexuality. I hinted at some of those last summer when I wrote a review of Kaiser’s book about Pope Francis and the Jesuits.

I may say more about this down the road. My tendency is never to undercut solidarity with people and groups that deserve my solidarity. And so I am concerned not to criticize too harshly a book whose proceeds go to abuse survivors, since I am determined to stand in solidarity with survivors.

On the other hand, I have long seen it as my responsibility as a theologian to seek and try to speak the truth in season and out of season, and there’s a very important conversation that needs to be continued within the Catholic community about the easy, glib way in which gay priests were immediately scapegoated by Catholic leaders when the abuse crisis broke wide open in 2002 — a diversionary scapegoating technique designed to deflect attention from their own horrific handling of the situation. And further discussion needs to take place about the way in which that diversionary meme has been popularized in the media, including the “liberal” Catholic media, and even in some segments of the community of survivors.

Meanwhile, here’s another passage that catches my eye in Tom Doyle’s introductory essay in the book, which is entitled “To the True Heroes — The Survivors”:

This pope’s overtures to victims are grounded on three decades of courageous efforts by survivors. Without these efforts nothing would have changed. Survivors have changed the course of Catholic history. They have accelerated the paradigm shift of the Church of the past to the Church of today. If this Church is to be known not as a gilded monarchy of increasing irrelevance but as the People of God, the change in direction hinted at by the pope’s words and actions are crucial, and if he does lead the way to a new image of the Body of Christ, it will be due in great part because the survivors have led the way for him.

~ Tom Doyle, in Robert Blair Kaiser, Whistle: Tom Doyle’s Steadfast Witness for Victims of Clerical Sexual Abuse (Thiensville, WI: Caritas, 2015) (p. iv).

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

by David Clohessy

Bankruptcy “is the best way to fairly and equitably compensate victims. . .ensuring that all are treated equitably.”

Milwaukee Catholic Archbishop Jerome Listecki, June 2011

[City Pages]

“575 individuals came forward. 240 of them will get nothing. And 92 others will get about $2,000 each.”

National Catholic Reporter, August 2015

[National Catholic Reporter]

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UNITED STATES
Hollywood Reporter

by Matthew Belloni , Chris Gardner
8/5/2015

The pontiff has shortlisted Hollywood heavy-hitters for a special meeting at the Vatican this fall. The topic? Improving the church’s portrayal in Western entertainment.

A version of this story first appeared in the Aug. 14 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.

Ari Emanuel might soon get a chance to hug it out with the pope.

Sources say the William Morris Endeavor superagent and his co-CEO Patrick Whitesell are on a shortlist of media players whom reps for Pope Francis have approached for a special meeting at the Vatican this fall.

The pontiff apparently is interested in discussing how the church is perceived by Western media influencers and ways to improve its portrayal in entertainment. The Vatican, which is said to be working with the nonprofit Varkey Foundation, came up with a list of Hollywood players to invite to a summit of sorts. Film and television producer Brian Grazer, OWN mogul Oprah Winfrey, actor Matt Damon and semiretired supermogul David Geffen also scored invites, according to sources.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
6 ABC

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — Major highways and the Ben Franklin bridge will close and traffic will be restricted in the city during Pope Francis’ visit to Philadelphia.

The details:

MAJOR HIGHWAYS

The following highway closures will start at 10 p.m. on Friday, September 25th:

*I-76 eastbound from I-476 to I-95

*I-76 westbound from I-95 to US Route 1

*I-676 will be closed in both directions from I-76 to I-95

*US Route 1 will be closed in both directions from US Route 30 to Belmont Avenue

*I-95 WILL REMAIN OPEN with selected ramps closed

BEN FRANKLIN BRIDGE

*The Ben Franklin bridge will also close to vehicular traffic on Friday, September 25th at 10 p.m. until 12 p.m. on Monday, September 28th. The only vehicles allowed will be emergency vehicles.

*The bridge will be used as a pedestrian crossing.

TRAFFIC BOX

Meanwhile, Mayor Nutter announced what’s being called a ‘traffic box’ for parts of Center City and West Philadelphia.

The traffic box for Center City will begin at 6 p.m. on Friday, September 25th, while the traffic box for West Philadelphia will begin at 10 p.m.

Vehicles will be allowed out of the traffic box, but will not be able to re-enter. However, drivers will be able to travel inside the traffic box.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Aug. 5

Statement by Barbara Blaine of Chicago, president of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (312-399-4747, bblaine@SNAPnetwork.org)

Chicago’s archbishop kept quiet for more than a week about child pornography allegations against a priest.

Police are investigating possible child sex images on the computer of Fr. Octavio Munoz Capetillo, pastor of St. Pancratius in the Brighton Park neighborhood. Archbishop Blasé Cupich apparently suspended Fr. Capetillo on 8/27 but made no public announcement until 8/3.

It’s inexcusable for Catholic officials to delay disclosing alleged crimes by priests involving kids. And suspected child sex crimes should immediately be turned over to law enforcement, not “vetted” first by church officials.

[Chicago Tribune]

[Chicago Sun-Times]

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Who would have thought that the highest ranking politician in the UK, the third highest ranking politician in the US and “America’s dad” would all be accused of sexual violence?

I’m referring of course to ex-Prime Minister Sir Edward Heath, ex-House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Bill Cosby.

It’s possible that at some point in your life, someone you know will be accused of raping an adult or abusing a child. It’s likely that every bone in your body will cry out “No! He could NEVER do such a thing.”

Then pause before you utter that thought, and ponder the millions who have been shocked over – and wrong about – allegations of sexual crimes against the popular and powerful.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

[with audio]

A key deadline has come and gone for bankruptcy court claims against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Clergy sex abuse victims and other interested parties had until Monday to file claims. More than 300 people have filed claims in the bankruptcy. Parishes, schools and other entities have also filed claims.

Now, the process of evaluating those claims begins.

MPR’s Cathy Wurzer spoke with Chris Soper. The University of Minnesota Law School professor has been involved in several Catholic Church bankruptcies.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Post

BY MICHAEL BROWN , CP OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR
August 5, 2015

Without a doubt, we have hurt our witness to the world with our hypocrisy, thereby undercutting our moral and spiritual authority. Why should people listen to us if we preach one thing and do another? How can we expose sin in the society when we’re practicing sin in the church? On what basis can we speak out against gay “marriage” when we’ve allowed our own marriages to go to pot?

The pedophile priest scandal in the Catholic Church not only inflicted terrible suffering on the boys who were abused. It also terribly damaged the reputation of the Vatican, greatly weakening its influence in many parts of the world.

The flood of scandals in the evangelical church, both sexual and financial, have made us a laughingstock, to the point that many Americans simply assume that the more famous the TV preacher or pastor the more certain it is that he (or she) is getting rich off the Gospel, not to mention probably hiding some secret sexual sin. (Of course, the vast majority of evangelical pastors and leaders are not rich, not famous, and not guilty of secret sexual sin, but there are enough bad apples to make all the apples suspect.)

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
UPI

By Amy R. Connolly | Aug. 5, 2015

MILWAUKEE, Aug. 5 (UPI) — The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee announced Tuesday it has agreed to pay $21 million to hundreds of victims of childhood sexual abuse by clergy, clearing the way for the archdiocese to emerge from its five-year bankruptcy.

Under the agreement, 330 of the 570 who filed sexual abuse claims in the bankruptcy will get financial settlements of varying amounts determined by a court-ordered administrator. The settlement also calls for a $500,000 therapy fund for abuse victims. The sum far exceeds the $4 million the archdiocese offered victims in February 2014. The settlement must be approved by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Susan V. Kelley.

“Today, we turn the page on a terrible part of our history and we embark on a new road lined with hope, forgiveness and love,” Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki said.

The dollar amount per victims is among the lowest in the many Roman Catholic Church bankruptcies nationwide filed to address sex abuse claims. In 2007, the San Diego diocese reached a nearly $200 million settlement with 144 people and in 2011 the Wilmington, Del. diocese settled for $77 million with 146 victims.

Critics are blasting the Milwaukee settlement as unjust and inadequate. Peter Isely, Midwest director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said the average individual Milwaukee amount will be about $44,000, far less than the nationwide average of about $300,000.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Independent

Sir Edward Heath abuse allegations: Brothel owner denies threatening to expose former Prime Minister

KASHMIRA GANDER Wednesday 05 August 2015

A brothel owner who allegedly threatened to expose former Conservative Prime Minister Sir Edward Heath as a child sex abuser has denied the claims, and said she was unaware of any wrongdoing by the late politician.

Myra Ling-Ling Forde has been widely named as the brothel owner who reportedly escaped prosecution in the early 1990s, after she threatened to expose Sir Edward as a child abuser.

She was later received two convictions for offence relation to running a home in Salisbury, Wiltshire.

However, in a statement released via her former solicitor she said she had no prior knowledge of allegations of misconduct by Sir Edward, and denied threatening to use his name to avoid prosecution.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Belfast Telegraph

Ted Heath allegations: Jersey victims’ lawyer says linking former PM to child sex abuse like ‘pinning down a jellyfish’

A lawyer representing Jersey abuse victims has said it was widely believed that Edward Heath was “implicated” in child sex abuse on the island – but that making a solid case against him was “like pinning down a jellyfish”.

Police in Jersey have confirmed that Sir Edward “does feature” in an ongoing inquiry into decades of abuse on the Crown dependency, making them one of five forces investigating allegations against the former Tory Prime Minister.

On Tuesday, a spokesperson for the inquiry said no evidence was provided in public or private during its hearings to suggest that children from the Haut de la Garenne orphanage were allowed to visit Sir Edward on his boat, the Morning Cloud.

Alan Collins, a sexual abuse litigation expert who represented Haut de la Garenne victims, told The Independent: “There were always hints, suggestions, but I never met anybody who actually said to me ‘I was abused by Ted Heath’ or ‘I know someone who was’.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
National Catholic Reporter

Marie Rohde | Aug. 5, 2015

MILWAUKEE
The Milwaukee archdiocese has put forth what it hopes is the final settlement plan that will end the church’s nearly 5-year-old bankruptcy case, but victims of childhood sex abuse who filed claims against the archdiocese said they are stunned by the latest proposal. They allege that the $21 million allocated to victims is much smaller than that awarded in other bankruptcies and that it pits victim against victim.

Only sketchy details of the plan have been released in early August. The full plan is to be filed with the bankruptcy court by Aug. 24. The claimants will vote on the plan by Nov. 6 and a court hearing for its approval is set for Nov. 9.

The plan emerged during a three-day mediation “a few weeks ago in July,” according to a statement by Archbishop Jerome Listecki. It was the fourth attempt to reach a mediated agreement and the only one done secretly.

According to a statement by the archdiocese, the plan sets aside $21 million to compensate 330 victims. However, as much as $7 million of that will go to lawyers who have been working on behalf of the victims without pay for more than a decade, according to a lawyer for some claimants.

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UNITED STATES
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on August 5, 2015

n light of the upcoming Papal visit to the U.S., I have a question:

When does Zero Tolerance begin?

Here are some hypotheticals to help illustrate my question:

* If you found out that a new priest in your parish had admitted to his superiors (but not the parish) that he had sexually abused a child, would you be upset?

* What if you found out that the abuse occurred before the priest had been ordained?

* What if the archbishop told your parish and other parishes that the abuse was a “consensual dating relationship?”

* What if you found out that the priest had been a teenager when he sexually abused a seven-year-old boy?

* What if you knew that another archdiocese had kicked the priest out, citing Zero Tolerance?

* What if you found out that despite the admission, your local archbishop gave this priest faculties in your archdiocese (that is, permission to act as a priest) and the archbishop said that the priest was not a risk to children?

* Would you be upset? Would you want this priest around your children?

So when does Zero Tolerance begin? Does it begin at ordination? Does it begin at puberty? Does is begin at birth?

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

[Tom Doyle in Robert Blair Kaiser’s Whistle: “I Was Dead Wrong . . . in Believing the Bishops Would Do the Right Thing”]

William D. Lindsey

More on the SNAP conference this past weekend: for me personally, the conference made a big impact in a way that’s not really easy to explain. I suppose the best way to aim at explanation is to say that listening to people who have had no option except to give up on the churches – meeting many such folks in such a concentrated group – has set my heart at ease about the similar movement of my own religious and spiritual life.

What makes this a difficult matter for me to explain is that, along with many of the people I met at the SNAP conference and to whom I listened carefully, I didn’t really choose this option. Like them, when I experienced my own tiny Waterloo of abuse and betrayal at the hands of the Catholic religious leaders who cruelly destroyed my career as a theologian in the early 1990s, I very naively believed that I was dealing with a few bad apples.

I confidently turned to the abbot of the very Benedictine monastery that was destroying my theological vocation, and asked for a hearing. I sought his pastoral advice. Only to find that he slammed the door in my face and informed me in no uncertain terms that he would not talk to me . . . .

I turned to the bishop of the diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina, and had the very same thing happen to me. I made a retreat at the Trappist monastery in South Carolina and asked the abbot of that monastery, who had been highly recommended to me as a pastorally sensitive person, for spiritual counsel.

He agreed to provide it. I then came home from the retreat, wrote him a thank-you letter expanding on what I had told him face to face about my anguish at what was happening to me, to a vocation-career for which I had worked long and hard and sacrificed much. I never heard a single word from this abbot again.

I did not choose to have doors slammed in my face. I did not choose to have my career as a Catholic theologian callously destroyed by monks and bishops who natter on about social justice and human rights, while leading lives of complete comfort and security as they blithely take bread from the mouths of lay employees of their Catholic institutions, removing healthcare coverage from them, refusing to disclose any reason for doing this, and thereby making it impossible for those hapless human beings to find subsequent employment in Catholic institutions.

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WISCONSIN
WSAU

MILWAUKEE (WSAU-Wheeler News) Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki calls the proposed settlement of its bankruptcy case a “rebirth.”

Victims of the priest sex abuse that triggered the bankruptcy say it’s nowhere near enough. The two sides have announced $21-million in payments for over 300 of the 575 victims who filed claims in the four-and-a-half year old case. A court appointee will determine how much each person gets, and Judge Susan Kelley will act on the settlement November 9th. It follows three days of negotiations last month. The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests says the average payment per victim is $44,000 — compared to $300,000 before legal fees in eleven other Catholic dioceses which filed for bankruptcy. Creditors’ attorney Jeff Anderson says many victims were treated unfairly by “hardball legal tactics.”

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NEW MEXICO
Gallup Independent

Gallup Independent editorial published July 31, 2015

As they face another round of court ordered mediation, Bishop James S. Wall and his bankruptcy attorneys are at a crossroads. They need to decide if they are really serious about resolving the Diocese of Gallup’s bankruptcy case. If they keep doing what they’ve been doing, they are going to keep getting the same dismal results.

The bankruptcy case will continue to drag on and on — into the case’s third year. And, of course, the diocese’s legal expenses will continue to climb. As of March 31, the fees and expenses for its small army of bankruptcy attorneys, accountants and other professionals had exceeded $2.25 million, and a new round of quarterly professional fees should be submitted to the court soon.

If Bishop Wall and his attorneys are really serious about resolving this bankruptcy, they need to start doing things differently. They need to start thinking differently.

For one, they need to put the interests of the clergy sex abuse survivors at the top of their priority list. Remember the clergy sex abuse survivors? They are the people whose lives have been shattered by the sexual abuse they endured as children attending Catholic parishes and schools in the Gallup Diocese. They are the people whose interests should be at the very heart of this case.

Secondly, the diocese and its insurance providers need to stop bickering and begin working together to provide a legitimate settlement for abuse survivors. The bickering was at its height in April as attorneys for the diocese and the insurance companies sniped at each other in court motions and hearings. One of the insurance companies is Catholic Mutual, a self-insurance fund of the Catholic Church in North America. Bishop Wall and the Catholic bishops who run Catholic Mutual do not impress anyone with their Christian character as they argue over how few pennies abuse survivors deserve based on insurance policies.

Thirdly, Bishop Wall needs to demonstrate a real willingness to sacrifice some of the diocese’s own assets to fund the plan of reorganization and provide a settlement for abuse survivors. While Wall has agreed to auction off some excess real property, the sale of those properties may not even cover the case’s legal fees and expenses. For example, the six Gallup parcels to be auctioned appear to be mere crumbs off the bishop’s table. Three of the parcels are landlocked and located on steep, rocky hillsides. There’s no sacrifice — or honor — in offering virtually worthless parcels for sale.

There are a number of other properties in the Diocese of Gallup that could be added to the upcoming auction. Some are also excess real property not being utilized for a religious purpose. In addition, Bishop Wall could also make some sacrifices and offer other property that has substantial value. For example, why does the diocese need to hold onto its chancery property when it has empty office space in the Catholic Charities complex and the now defunct Gallup Catholic High School? Why does Bishop Wall need his own private residence and chapel when other bishops are happy to live in church rectories among their own priests? Clergy abuse survivors deserve more than crumbs off the bishop’s table.

If Bishop Wall and his attorneys don’t make serious efforts and serious sacrifices at the next mediation table, the crossroads they are currently facing will quickly turn into a quagmire. The legal fees and expenses will continue to rise, and U.S. Bankruptcy Judge David T. Thuma’s patience is surely going to wear thin.

Then perhaps Bishop Wall and his attorneys will find themselves sitting at another table — the defendant’s table in Arizona’s Coconino County Superior Court. That’s the table Bishop Wall was trying to avoid nearly two years ago when he filed for bankruptcy.

We hope Bishop Wall doesn’t need to sit in that Flagstaff courtroom to finally get serious about offering a fair settlement to the survivors of clergy sex abuse.

In this space only does the opinion of the Gallup Independent Editorial Board appear

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UNITED KINGDOM
Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse has a dedicated helpline for victims and survivors. The aim of the helpline is to ensure that as many people as possible have the opportunity to engage with the work of the Inquiry.

The Inquiry will run a full, fair and open procurement process where any appropriate organisation can put in a bid to be the long term provider of the Inquiry’s helpline. Given the size and complexity of the contract this procurement process it is likely to take a minimum of 3 months. The NSPCC has been appointed to run the helpline whilst this procurement process takes place.

We are pleased to announce that the long term contract for the Inquiry helpline will be put out to tender during September. We will publish the full details of the process for making a bid and the criteria by which bids will be assessed on this website.

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

08/04/2015

Jennifer Haselberger

Since I have been fielding questions from reporters on this topic, I thought I would take the opportunity to also mention here that I too filed a notice of claim in the matter of the bankruptcy of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis.

I have not commenced a lawsuit against the Archdiocese. I simply notified them, prior to the established bar date, that I had a claim for which I may seek legal remedy.

It will come as no surprise to many of you that the basis of my claim is defamation of character. Nor will it surprise you to learn that the claim is based not on a single incident but multiple incidences that have occurred over the past year.

However, I do want it to be known that in filing the notice and contemplating legal action I am not seeking personal enrichment. If I do pursue a claim for damages my intention is to use any award in furtherance of the goal of ensuring that the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis becomes a safe and welcoming place for all individuals. I have a very specific idea about one step that can be taken towards accomplishing this, and my intention is to use any award as seed money for that project.

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UNITED STATES
Windy City Times

Special to the online edition of Windy City Times
by Joe Franco
2015-08-04

By Gregory Alexander, $14.99; Mill City Press; 290 pages

I am going to start by giving you, gentle readers, a caveat to this review: I am culturally a Roman Catholic.

Anne Rice is quoted as having loved this book, saying it’s “irresistible, profoundly compelling…” That being said, I do not share Rice’s unmitigated high praise of The Holy Mark. It is not that I did not like the book, but I had a rather severe reaction to some elements in it. I thought, “Perhaps it is my inculcated loyalty to the Church.” But, no, it isn’t that, since I do not take any offense to the subject matter. The Catholic Church has perpetrated an enormous crime that has touched every corner of the Catholic world in ways that resonate with the protagonist, Father Tony.

My biggest issue was the background story—the origins of Fr. Tony. There is so much background story that the actual plot—”dirty priest from powerful, Italian, New Orleans family is disgraced and sent to work at crappy parish in huge cover up”—is relegated to not more than perhaps a hundred or so pages. Honestly, the author could have removed the first 90 pages right off the get-go and the reader would not have been lost at all, since he mentions the priest’s past so much already throughout the book. I would have rather read more on the goings-on after the priest’s childhood, even if that childhood were moderately interesting.

I also think the premise of the book could be construed as dangerous for gay men. Fr. Tony is a pedophile because he has repressed same-sex longings for his ridiculously hot cousin. Sure, that’s messed-up but it also strongly suggests that pedophile priests are latent homosexuals with terrible body dysmorphic disorder.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

The Royal Commission will hold a public hearing in Melbourne commencing on 1 September 2015 at the County Court of Victoria, 250 William Street, Melbourne.

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

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

2. The responses of the School Council, Principals and other members of staff of Geelong Grammar School to:

a. concerns raised about inappropriate conduct, or

b. complaints about child sexual abuse

where the concerns raised or complaints made related to the behaviour of teaching and non-teaching staff of Geelong Grammar School towards students.

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

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AUSTRALIA
The Conversation

Jayne Persian
Postdoctoral Research Associate in History at University of Sydney

In 1941, during the second world war, the Menzies government banned Jehovah’s Witnesses. This gave them the distinction of being the only Christian religious body to be banned in Australia during the 20th century.

Over the past week, Jehovah’s Witnesses have again appeared in news headlines after the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse cross-examined their leaders and scrutinised their policies.

Who are Jehovah’s Witnesses?

Jehovah’s Witnesses are mostly known in Australia as suburban door-knockers. They grew out of an American Protestant Bible study group established by Charles Taze Russell in the early 1870s. Some of his adherents had arrived in Australia by 1896.

Russell stressed a particular belief that the end of the world was near, and that Christ would destroy all worldly kingdoms and replace them with a paradise earth.

Russell believed that this paradise was open to all who would accept the message. Thus, the sect had a moral and spiritual obligation to spread the word to as many people as possible.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

A victim of sexual abuse within the Jehovah’s Witnesses would face an ‘impossible choice’ between staying in the church and being cut off from friends and family, the child abuse royal commission has heard.

One of the most senior members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Australia, Terrence O’Brien, told the commission on Wednesday that a victim would know that by ‘disassociating’ or leaving the church, they would be shunned by other Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Counsel assisting the commission, Angus Stewart SC, said in a scenario where a survivor of abuse could not bear remaining in the same organisation as her abuser, the fate she faced was ‘cruel’.

‘No one, is it not right, should be put to the choice of remaining in an organisation which she feels is protective of her abuser, and losing her family and social network?’ Mr Stewart asked Mr O’Brien.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Rachael Brown and Loretta Florance

The Victorian Government has begun consulting with the community about the possibility of developing a redress scheme for survivors of child abuse, as recommended by a State Parliament inquiry.

Survivors of abuse in Victoria currently have to go back to the organisation of their abuse.

The parliamentary inquiry’s Betrayal of Trust report, tabled in 2013, recommended the introduction of “an independent, alternative avenue of justice” operated by the state.

Victorian Attorney-General Martin Pakula said the consultation process would last a couple of months and would allow survivors of abuse to have a say on the scheme.

“We’re not going to pre-empt what might ultimately be determined, but this is an important step in giving the community, particularly survivors, an ability to have some input into the way a redress scheme might work,” he said.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
CNN

By Steve Almasy, CNN

(CNN)The Archdiocese of Milwaukee has agreed to pay $21 million to hundreds of victims of sexual abuse by priests, the church announced Tuesday.

“This has been a long process filled with prayer, patience and perseverance, but I am pleased to have reached the goal of providing compensation to those who have been harmed; creating a path toward healing; and allowing the church to continue its mission,” Archbishop Jerome Listecki said in a written statement.

An attorney who represents some of the victims said the settlement favors the church over the victims, but the other option — going to trial — was worse.

“The archbishop and the archdiocese should be ashamed of this settlement,” Jeff Anderson told CNN. “I am sad for the survivors that have been put through this ordeal. … They got bloodied and bruised.”

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ALABAMA
Times Daily

By Tom Smith Senior Staff Writer

FLORENCE — Oliver W. Brazelle told Lauderdale County Judge Gil Self he was pleading guilty to child molestation because he enticed a boy to his lake house for immoral purposes.

Moments later Brazelle officially entered a “guilty” plea to the charge, which is a Class C felony.
Self said Brazelle will be sentenced at 9 a.m. Oct. 7, after a presentencing report has been completed. He faces 1-10 years in prison.

Lauderdale County Chief Assistant District Attorney Will Powell said the victim’s family was kept informed throughout the plea process and was in agreement with Tuesday’s guilty plea of child molestation.

Brazelle, the former music and youth minister of First United Methodist Church of Sheffield, was indicted in August 2014 on sodomy and sexual abuse charges involving a teenage boy.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

August 5, 2015

Rachel Browne
Social Affairs Reporter

The Jehovah’s Witness Church will review its approach to child sexual abuse claims after evidence before a royal commission revealed serious flaws with its current procedures.

Terrence O’Brien​, one of the most senior members of the Jehovah’s Witness Church in Australia, told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse the organisation would consider changes to its procedures for sex abuse cases.

The commission has previously heard that under church rules, based on Biblical standards, victims are forced to face their abuser before a committee of male elders. Abuse is only considered proven where there is a confession or testimony from two witnesses to the assault.

Evidence before the commission is that the rules discourage abuse victims from speaking freely, fail to adequately support them and allow the alleged perpetrator to continue living in the community.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

AAP

THE JEHOVAH’S WITNESS CHURCH
ITS HISTORY

* The Jehovah’s Witness Church was founded at the end of 19th century in Pennsylvania by a small group of bible students led by Charles Taze Russell.

* Jehovah’s Witnesses live by a first-century interpretation of the bible, taking its teachings literally.

* a council of eight men based in Brooklyn make up the worldwide Governing Body.

* The church now has 8.2 million active members in 239 countries.

IN AUSTRALIA

* The religion has been active in Australia since 1896 with a branch office set up in Sydney in 1904.

* The Australian Branch Office co-ordinates activities of all congregations in Australia and New Zealand.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

August 5, 2015

Rachel Browne
Social Affairs Reporter

A self-confessed child sex abuser moved between different congregations of the Jehovah’s Witness Church without members being warned of his potential risk to children, according to evidence before a royal commission.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard that a high-ranking member of the Jehovah’s Witness Church allegedly molested four of his daughters in the 1970s and 1980s.

The man, given the pseudonym BCH, appeared before a committee of church elders where he was confronted with the sex abuse allegations as well as a claim of adultery, the commission heard.

Church elder Kevin Bowditch​ told the commission BCH was cast out of his congregation due to the adultery claim but not the allegations of sexual abuse.
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In evidence he said BCH was “disgusting” but was unsure why the sex abuse allegations against him had been omitted from the committee’s initial findings.

The commission heard it was not practice to warn the wider community about alleged child sex offenders.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s Chapter 11 case is the longest-running and most contentious of the 14 Catholic Church bankruptcies filed since 2004 to address sexual abuse liabilities going back decades. Here’s a look at how it got there and where it’s headed.

Q:Why was the Archdiocese of Milwaukee in Chapter 11?

A: The archdiocese has employed numerous priests over the decades who sexually assaulted minors. Victims began suing in the early 1990s, alleging the archdiocese knew some priests were a danger and put them in positions where they harmed children.

The lawsuits alleging negligent supervision were effectively halted in the mid-1990s, when the Wisconsin Supreme Court issued a pair of significant rulings. In 1995, it deemed such lawsuits unconstitutional, finding that meddling in the church’s staffing decisions would violate its religious liberty. And in 1997, it ruled that the statute of limitations on negligence for these cases had lapsed.

Victims continued to sue, asserting various claims, including fraud. In 2007, a new state Supreme Court ruling found that the fraud cases could proceed.

Then, courts began ruling that the archdiocese could not tap its insurance policies for settlements or judgments in those cases because fraud, unlike negligence, is an intentional act.

By late 2010, a dozen cases involving 17 victims had been filed. Church officials realized as those moved closer to trial that multimillion-dollar judgments in even a few of those could decimate the archdiocese. Victims’ attorneys also believe they were concerned about the impending depositions of retired Archbishop Rembert Weakland and Auxiliary Bishop Richard Sklba and the possible release of documents in the court’s discovery process.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Fox News

Published August 05, 2015
Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. – The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee said Tuesday that it will pay $21 million to more than 300 victims of clergy abuse in a settlement that would end a four-year bankruptcy proceeding.

The proposed deal, which will be part of a reorganization plan submitted to a bankruptcy court later this month, was to be reviewed by a judge overseeing the case at a Nov. 9 hearing. Archbishop Jerome Listecki called the settlement a “new Pentecost,” but an attorney for the victims, along with advocates for those abused by clergy, decried the settlement as a paltry amount.

Milwaukee is one of 12 Roman Catholic dioceses nationwide to file for bankruptcy in the past decade over a flood of abuse claims. The settlement announced Tuesday is among the smallest per-victim payments yet in these cases. The actual amount each victim receives will be determined by an appointee of the bankruptcy court.

The settlement was reached after three days of negotiations in July between the archdiocese, the creditors’ committee and attorneys for abuse survivors, the archdiocese said. …

Peter Isely, Midwest director of SNAP, said when attorneys’ fees are subtracted, the average settlement amount per victim will be $44,000. He said the average settlement amount in all other U.S. church bankruptcy cases, minus attorneys’ fees, is $300,000.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

By Jean Hopfensperger Star Tribune AUGUST 4, 2015

A day after the deadline for filing clergy abuse claims against the St. Paul and Minneapolis archdiocese, interim Archbishop Bernard Hebda described the number of victims who stepped forward as “staggering.”

“It’s helped me to realize how much pain there can be out there on these issues, that there can be 407 people carrying these burdens,” said Hebda, who became interim archbishop of the St. Paul and Minneapolis Archdiocese in June.

“The number encourages me not to underestimate that.”

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court Tuesday showed a final tally of 669 claims against the archdiocese, of which 407 were for clergy abuse and another 150 or so were from parishes seeking indemnification from abuse claims and also to protect their medical and dental insurance.

The others were filed by creditors and individuals, including archdiocese whistleblower Jennifer Haselberger, who filed a notice of claim for alleged defamation, and John Bussmann, a former priest charged with sexual misconduct who seeks compensation for living expenses and other support.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee

* 330 Abuse Survivors will share $21 million.

• A $500,000 Therapy Fund will be established for abuse survivors to access therapy and
counseling for as long as they need such assistance.

• Parishes of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee will contribute to the Therapy Fund.

• All Archdiocese of Milwaukee parishes, schools and institutions will receive a legal and
binding release protecting them from future lawsuits relating to abuse claims that were
filed or could have been filed in the Chapter 11 proceeding.

• The settlement money will come from various sources, including insurance settlements
of approximately $11 million and voluntary financial arrangements with the Cemetery
Perpetual Care Trust.

• The Cemetery Perpetual Care Trust will lend the archdiocese $3 million; provide $5
million for past cemetery care expenses that had previously not been reimbursed by the
Trust; and contribute $8 million to settle all pending litigation to bring closure to the
Cemetery Perpetual Care Trust issue.

• The Cemetery Perpetual Care Trust was part of the mediation and confirms that it
retains the necessary resources to fulfill its sacred mission of providing perpetual care
for the nine Archdiocese of Milwaukee Catholic cemeteries.

• To date, nearly $12 million has been paid to attorneys and other professionals in the
bankruptcy proceeding. Another $6.5 million in fees have been accrued, but not been
paid. To conclude the proceeding, additional legal fees have been capped at $1.25
million. Any savings on the projected costs to wind up the proceeding will go directly
to the abuse survivors.

• Under the settlement, abuse survivors will receive varying amounts of payments,
overseen and determined by an independent administrator, appointed by the
Bankruptcy Court, who will evaluate the claims and make recommendations to the
Creditors’ Committee for final payment amounts. The proposed claims administrator
also served as the mediator in the successful mediation process.

Key Parts of the Proposed Settlement Between the Archdiocese and Abuse Survivors

• There are four classes of abuse survivors outlined in the Plan:

• Abuse survivors whose claim is against an Archdiocese of Milwaukee priest with a
previous substantiated allegation of sexual abuse of a minor. 223 claims fall into this
category.

• Abuse survivors whose claim is against a religious order priest, brother or sister,
or a lay employee, who experienced the abuse at an archdiocesan parish, school or
institution where the abuser was working. 107 claims fall into this category.

• Claimants whose claims are not substantiated or could not be substantiated, or where
abuse occurred by someone at a non-archdiocesan organization will be classified into
an “Unsubstantiated Claims Designated at the Creditors’ Committee’s Election” class.
The Creditors’ Committee chose to set aside a portion of the settlement funds to
permit claimants in this class to receive $2,000 each to settle their claims in exchange
for a release of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and all Archdiocese of Milwaukee
parishes, schools and institutions. 92 claims fall into this category.

• Claimants whose claims were either disallowed or dismissed or claims that are not for
sexual abuse or do not identify the abuser, along with claims filed by individuals who
had previously received a financial settlement from the archdiocese will receive no
payment. 157 claims fall in to this category.

• 579 claims were filed in the proceeding. Nine claims were either withdrawn or were filed
multiple times.

• The archdiocesan offices will remain at the Cousins Center.

• A new lease for the Milwaukee Bucks to use the Cousins Center as its training facility has
been put in place.

• No other legal action against the Faith In Our Future Trust, De Sales Preparatory Seminary
or other Catholic institutions will occur.

• The Archdiocese of Milwaukee Finance Council and College of Consultors endorsed the
settlement.

• The Cemetery Trust will voluntarily withdraw its pending U.S. Supreme Court petition for
Certiorari at an appropriate time.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
CBS 58

[with video]

By Marshanna Hester

Milwaukee –
Archdiocese of Milwaukee announced a $21 million settlement to compensate clergy sexual abuse survivors.

The settlement comes after four and a half years of legal battles.

The proposed settlement agreement will be outlined in an Amended Plan of Reorganization to be filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court on August 24, and Judge Susan V. Kelley is expected to review the Plan at a hearing on November 9.

Archbishop Listecki said if the plan is approved, it officially ends the bankruptcy case and allows the archdiocese to return its full attention to the spiritual, charitable and educational mission of the Church.

“We applaud the courage of the survivors who came forward, and the creditors’ committee, who fought every step of the way,” said attorney Jeff Anderson. “The treatment of the survivors by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee has been harsh and hurtful. This process has been heartbreaking for many who have been treated so unfairly by hardball legal tactics. The survivors continued to stand up for what was right, what they believed in, and to make sure the truth was brought to light. Because of them, children are better protected.”

“This settlement represents for us in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee a new Pentecost, a day of rebirth that renews our focus on Word, Worship and Service,” Listecki said. “We do so remembering those who have been harmed; keeping them in our prayers; supporting them through therapy and healing; promising never to forget the evil that has been done; and working diligently to ensure this never happens again.”

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee

NOTE: Key Parts of the Proposed Settlement Between the Archdiocese and Abuse Survivors (FAQ)

Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki announced today that the Archdiocese of Milwaukee has reached a collective settlement with abuse survivors of clergy sexual abuse for $21 million, setting the stage to close the Chapter 11 proceeding filed on January 4, 2011. The proposed settlement agreement will be outlined in an Amended Plan of Reorganization to be filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court on August 24, and Judge Susan V. Kelley is expected to review the Plan at a hearing on November 9.

Archbishop Listecki said if the plan is approved, it officially ends the bankruptcy case and allows the archdiocese to return its full attention to the spiritual, charitable and educational mission of the Church.

“Today, we turn the page on a terrible part of our history and we embark on a new road lined with hope, forgiveness and love,” Archbishop Listecki said.

“This settlement represents for us in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee a new Pentecost, a day of rebirth that renews our focus on Word, Worship and Service,” Listecki said. “We do so remembering those who have been harmed; keeping them in our prayers; supporting them through therapy and healing; promising never to forget the evil that has been done; and working diligently to ensure this never happens again.”

“This chapter will live on in our memories forever, but now we can turn the page from that chapter and focus on the future,” Archbishop Listecki said. “We turn that page by rededicating ourselves to the spiritual, educational and charitable mission of the Church – igniting our enthusiasm in our parishes and schools; renewing our commitment to Jesus Christ and His Church; and energizing ourselves and others in our prayer and ministry.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Melissa Davey
@MelissaLDavey

Wednesday 5 August 2015

Victims of child sexual abuse are outraged that Cardinal George Pell will appear before the royal commission into institutional response into child sex abuse in Melbourne, rather than in the regional town of Ballarat.

Pell had been due to give evidence to the commission at the second stage of the Ballarat hearings in November. However, last week the commission said the hearings would be held in Melbourne’s county court, citing logistical issues and a high level of public interest.

Stephen Woods – who was abused by the notorious pedophile priest Gerald Francis Ridsdale and the convicted pedophile brother Robert Charles Best while a student at St Alipius primary school – said he and many Ballarat victims were deeply upset by the decision and claimed there was a different interpretation of the reason for the change of venue.

“We feel Pell should apologise to the people of Ballarat and western Victoria for the previous cover-ups and ongoing cover-ups of the church,” Woods told Guardian Australia.

“Clearly he fears coming to Ballarat. But this community needs healing. He should front up to them, in their community where the assaults and the cover-ups happened.”

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INDIA
The Hindu

Nine pilgrims to Jordan fail to return

: The police have launched an investigation into a case of suspected illegal migration in which nine persons who had gone to Jordan from the city for pilgrimage have failed to return. However, the priest, who had accompanied the group, has returned to the country, but remained untraceable for the authorities.

According to Jawahar Janardh, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Shangumugham, the case has been registered at the Valiathura police station against the 10 persons, including the priest, on the basis of an alert received from the Foreigners’ Regional Registration Office (FRRO).

The group of pilgrims had left for Jordan from Thiruvananthapuram on May 27 after obtaining visiting visa through a tour operator. While they were expected to return after their journey on June 6, only the priest Stansilus Theemus landed at the Delhi International Airport on May 31.

The police said that the address of the priest has been mentioned to be the same as that of the Thiruvananthapuram Latin Archbishop’s House at Vellayambalam. Fr. Theemus is believed to have been the priest of a church in Kazhakoottam.

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INDIA
The New Indian Express

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Valiyathura police on Tuesday registered a case against two persons including a Catholic priest in the city on charges of human trafficking. The priest, identified as Chancilus Femas, and a tour operator Kiran Mohanan have been accused of taking nine people to Jordan after promising them jobs on pilgrimage visa. The police registered a case after receiving a complaint lodged from the immigration officials. The two have absconded after the police began a search for them.

According to police officials, the incident came to the light after the persons who had gone with them didn’t return to the country even after the lapse of time period for which the visa had been issued. “We were informed by the officials of Foreigners Regional Registration Office and they handed over a report.

In the report it has been pointed out that the nine member team including the priest have not returned from Jordan after completion of the said period, which was the end of June. When the priest returned to India alone in the end of June, the immigration officials became suspicious and formally lodged a complaint.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Elizabeth Mohr
emohr@pioneerpress.com

A closer look at claims filed against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis as part of its bankruptcy proceedings shows requests from former employees, outcast priests, business associates and the whistleblower whose disclosures sped the church’s unraveling.

Monday marked the last day to file claims against the archdiocese, including clergy sex abuse claims, and they flooded in as the day came to a close.

Among the claims filed:

— The IRS filed a claim for $115,024 for taxes going back to 2011.

— Retired priest Stanley Kozlak wants to keep his $1,216 monthly pay, medical insurance and $1,550 in “subsistence pay” that was part of a 2002 payoff after he fathered a child.

— The Rev. Mark Huberty, who was charged but acquitted of sexual misconduct for having an affair with a woman, is asking the archdiocese to cover $46,000 in legal fees for his criminal case. Criminal and civil cases have been filed against other priests and bishops, Huberty said in his claim affidavit, “and it is widely known that their legal expenses have been paid for by the archdiocese.”

— The Rev. John Bussmann, who was convicted of criminal sexual conduct involving an adult woman and later convicted of theft, claims he is owed more than $680,000 in back pay and material support for the more than 20 years he’s been unassigned.

He said the archdiocese this year offered to pay him $10,000 to leave the priesthood, but he rejected it because he “considers his vocation a valid calling from Almighty God, and he cannot in conscience ‘sell’ his priesthood for any amount of money,” his claim said.

He did not specify who made the $10,000 offer. Former Archbishop John Nienstedt resigned in June. The Vatican named Archbishop Bernard Hebda of Newark, N.J., apostolic administrator for the St. Paul archdiocese — a caretaker role until Pope Francis names a new archbishop.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Reuters

BY BRENDAN O’BRIEN

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee has reached a $21 million settlement with 330 victims of sexual abuse by clergy, church officials said on Tuesday.

The settlement will be filed as part of the church’s plan to restructure in U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Aug. 24, more than four years after the archdiocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, Archbishop Jerome Listecki said in a statement.

“Today, we turn the page on a terrible part of our history and we embark on a new road lined with hope, forgiveness and love,” Listecki said.

The U.S. Catholic Church has been hit with a series of sexual abuse accusations aimed mainly at clergy who targeted youths over the past two decades. The scandals have cost the U.S. church about $3 billion in settlements and driven prominent dioceses like Milwaukee’s into bankruptcy.

The archdiocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2011, citing the financial drain of settling sexual-abuse claims and acknowledging missteps by the church in dealing with pedophile priests.

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CONNECTICUT/MASSACHUSETTS
Patch

By ERIN QUINLAN (Patch Staff)

A 32-year-old East Longmeadow man is accused of manipulating a Manchester teen, reports the Hartford Courant.

Jimmy Chang, a youth pastor, was charged with 12 counts of second-degree sexual assault and was held on $350,000 bond. He is due to appear in Manchester Superior Court on Sept. 11.

Chang persuaded the 17-year-old girl to sneak out of her Manchester house and convinced her that she did not have to save her virginity. State law prohibits sexual relations between a person over age 20 who “stands in a position of power, authority or supervision” over a person under age 18.

The girl was a member of a Christian youth group based in Agawam, Mass., and Chang was a leader of the group. He was also a tutor with a Longmeadow-based company.

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CONNECTICUT/MASSACHUSETTS
WWLP

[with video]

By Anthony Fay
Published: August 4, 2015

MANCHESTER, Conn. (WWLP) – A man from East Longmeadow has been arrested by Connecticut police on numerous counts of sexual assault.

Manchester Police Capt. Christopher Davis told 22News that Jimmy Chang, 32, turned himself in to police on Tuesday morning. Davis said that Chang is being charged with 13 counts of sexual assault.

Davis told 22News that he has few details on the alleged assaults at this time, but they are claimed to have taken place in Manchester between March and September of 2012.

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CONNECTICUT/MASSACHUSETTS
Hartford Courant

By Jesse Leavenworth

MANCHESTER — A Massachusetts youth pastor was arrested Tuesday, accused of manipulating a teenage girl in his charge into a long-term sexual relationship, police said.

Jimmy Chang, 32, of East Longmeadow, was charged with 12 counts of second-degree sexual assault. Chang was being held on bail of $350,000 and is to appear in Manchester Superior Court on Sept. 11.

Police say Chang persuaded the girl to sneak out of her Manchester house and convinced her that she did not have to save her virginity. The victim was 17 at the time of the offenses, from March 14 to Sept. 11, 2012, police said. State law prohibits sexual relations between a person over age 20 who “stands in a position of power, authority or supervision” over a person under age 18.

The girl was living in Manchester and was a member of a Christian youth group based in Agawam, Mass. at the time of the assaults, according to an arrest warrant. Chang was a leader of the group and also a tutor with a company based in Longmeadow, police said.

The girl reported the assaults to Manchester police on March 26. Her sister told police that she found detailed descriptions of the sexual relationship in the victim’s online diary, police said.

Chang and the girl had sex in the back seat of his vehicle on several occasions, police said. Although she expressed love for Chang in her online diary, the girl also wrote that she felt “used and pathetic,” police said.

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