ABUSE TRACKER

VATICAAN
NRC (Nederland)

Het Vaticaan gaat de voormalige Poolse aartsbisschop Jozef Wesolowski vervolgen voor kindermisbruik. Wesolowski was nuntius, een diplomatieke vertegenwoordiger van de paus, in de Dominicaanse Republiek toen hij in 2013 uit zijn ambt werd gezet nadat bekend was geworden dat hij zich aan kinderen had vergrepen.

Naast zijn vergrijpen – hij zou jongetjes hebben betaald om in zijn bijzijn te masturberen – werd er ook kinderporno aangetroffen op de computer van Wesolowski. Hij werd in augustus 2013 uit zijn ambt gezet en onder huisarrest geplaatst in afwachting van de beslissing van het Vaticaan om hem te vervolgen. Het is voor het eerst dat de kerk zo’n hooggeplaatste functionaris vervolgt. Naast nuntius was Wesolowski aartsbisschop van Sléibhte. Het proces begint over een maand.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on the resignation of St. Paul and Minneapolis Archbishop John Nienstedt:

Both the New York Times and AP reported today that Archbishop Nienstedt protected a pedophile priest, Curtis Wehmeyer. But Wehmeyer is not a pedophile: as with almost all molesting priests—more than 80 percent of them—he is a homosexual.

In 2010, Wehmeyer molested two postpubescent boys, 12 and 14, though it wasn’t until 2012 that the mother of the abused boys told a priest about it. She was told to call the cops. She did. Wehmeyer was immediately relieved of his duties, and the Ramsey County Attorney commended Archbishop Nienstedt for doing “the right thing.”

It was Nienstedt who got the priest removed. Under his predecessor, Archbishop Harry Flynn, Wehmeyer made sexually suggestive remarks to two men, 19 and 20; he was sent for counseling. Two year later, while Flynn was still in charge, he was found cruising in an area known for gay sex. In 2009, with Nienstedt at the helm, he got a DUI. If Nienstedt made one mistake, it was not dumping Wehmeyer sooner.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

[note: This was posted before the resignations today of Archbishop John C. Nienstedt and Bishop Lee A. Piche of the St. Paul and Minneapolis archdiocese.]

Pope Francis’s removal of Bishop Robert Finn is welcome even if long overdue. But what does it mean? Is it merely an attempt to squash scandal, or does it signal a new era of bishop accountability?

To facilitate understanding of this unusual papal action, BishopAccountability.org presents this list of complicit bishops who have resigned or been removed.

The Vatican’s announcement about Finn said only that he was removed in accordance with canon 401, paragraph 2, which states: “A diocesan bishop who has become less able to fulfill his office because of ill health or some other grave cause is earnestly requested to present his resignation from office.” This is the same notice the Vatican has issued in the firing of other complicit bishops who have caused scandal – such as Irish bishop Brendan Comiskey, removed by Pope John Paul II in 2002, and Irish bishop Seamus Hegarty, removed by Pope Benedict XVI in 2011.

What no pope has done to date is publicly confirm that he removed a culpable bishop because of his failure to make children’s safety his first priority. Pope Francis should issue such a statement about Finn. That would be unprecedented, and it would send a bracing message to bishops and religious superiors worldwide that a new era has begun.

It should be noted too that Pope Francis’s decision on Finn will add fuel to the fire in Chile; calls for the removal of Chilean bishop Juan de la Cruz Barros Madrid will intensify. We hope Francis will honor the pleas of the victims of disgraced priest Fernando Karadima, of his own Commission members, and of the priests and parishioners of the Osorno diocese, and rescind this disastrous appointment immediately. If Francis means business, he must be consistent.

Bishops who resigned during the papacy of John Paul II
Brendan Comiskey, SS.CC. (Ireland) | Kurt Krenn (Austria) | Bernard Law (United States) | Ronald Mulkearns (Australia) | Alphonsus Liguori Penney (Canada) | John Aloysius Ward, O.F.M. Cap. (Wales)

Bishops who resigned during the papacy of Benedict XVI
Raymond W. Field (Ireland) | Seamus Hegarty (Ireland) | John Magee, S.P.S. (Ireland) | James Moriarty (Ireland) | Donal Brendan Murray (Ireland) | Rafael Eleuterio Rey (Argentina) | Eamonn Oliver Walsh (Ireland) | Daniel Francis Walsh (United States)

Bishops who resigned during the papacy of Francis
Robert Finn (United States) | Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano (Paraguay)

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MINNESOTA
The New York Times

By MARK S. GETZFRED and MITCH SMITHJUNE 15, 2015

The Roman Catholic archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis and a deputy bishop resigned on Monday after prosecutors recently charged the archdiocese with having failed to protect youths from abuse by pedophile priests.

In statements released Monday morning, the archbishop, John C. Nienstedt, and an auxiliary bishop, Lee A. Piché, said they were resigning to help the archdiocese heal.

“My leadership has unfortunately drawn attention away from the good works of His Church and those who perform them,” Archbishop Nienstedt said. “Thus my decision to step down.”

The resignations come about 10 days after prosecutors in Minnesota filed criminal charges against the archdiocese for its mishandling of repeated complaints of sexual misconduct against a priest and a few days after the Vatican announced the formation of a tribunal to hear cases against bishops accused of neglecting or covering up abuse cases — an unprecedented mechanism but one whose details are yet unknown. …

Archbishop Nienstedt is stepping down two months after the resignation of Bishop Robert W. Finn in Kansas City-St. Joseph in Missouri, where he had weathered years of controversy over his handling of a priest convicted of taking pornographic photographs of young girls. Archbishop Finn was himself convicted on a misdemeanor charge of failing to report the priest — the first bishop convicted in the abuse scandal’s long history.

They are hardly the first bishops to resign under scrutiny or accusations that they failed abuse victims. Since the papacy of John Paul II — now St. John Paul — 16 other bishops have resigned or been forced from office under a cloud of accusations that they mishandled abuse cases, according to research by BishopAccontability.org, an advocacy group based in Boston. Archbishop Nienstedt is the 17th, by that group’s count.

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MINNESOTA
Legal Examiner

Posted by Joe Crumley
June 15, 2015

The news of Archbishop John Nienstedt’s apparent ouster by the church is flying through the Minnesota and Roman Catholic blogosphere. The Star Tribune banner headline highlighted the big story.

Still, there’s a more important question. Who will replace him? Remember, Nienstedt got the Archbishop job after he presided over a very similar priest sex abuse fiasco as Bishop in New Ulm. There was a cover up there, and when he came to St. Paul, he continued the same way if thinking. Will the church bring in a real reformer or will it be more of the same?

While it is good news that the church final acted. But survivors, parishioners alike want to know the reason for the change. Is this change being made just so Nienstadt can’t be called ‘former’ archbishop when he is charged or when further cover up is revealed?Are they bringing in another cleaning crew? Or is it actually a bout of conscience?

The church has a pattern of bring in replacements with experience in these scandals. Since the ‘experienced’ bishops have been mostly involved in covering over more than reforming, they tend to bring in someone with a history of covering, and hiding, rather than openness and reform. If they bring in another bishop who has a history of scandal and cover up, this is really only a change in names.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Patricia Thraen
Pioneer Press

Archbishop John Nienstedt came to Minnesota as bishop of New Ulm, Minn., in 2001. Here is more about his career.

March 18, 1947: Born in Detroit to John C. and Elizabeth S. Nienstedt. Second of six children.

1969: Graduated from Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Detroit.

1972: Earned bachelor’s degree in sacred theology at Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, and was ordained a deacon at the Pontifical North American College, Rome.

July 27, 1974: Ordained a priest. Served as associate pastor at Guardian Angels Parish, Clawson, Mich., where he remained until 1976.

1977: Appointed secretary to Cardinal Francis Dearden, and part-time professor of moral theology at St. John’s Provincial Seminary, Plymouth, Mich.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

The turmoil at the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis comes on the heels of criminal charges and a civil petition filed by Ramsey County Attorney John Choi against the organization June 5. Here is what the archdiocese faces:

— Six gross misdemeanor criminal charges — three charges of contributing to the need for protection of minors and three charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

— Three claims in civil court based on the same allegations.

The criminal charges and civil petition stem from church leaders’ alleged failure to protect children from Curtis Wehmeyer, a former priest who remained in the ministry for years despite signs he was a risk. Wehmeyer was convicted of molesting two boys and faces prosecution in Wisconsin for molesting a third.

The criminal charges are against the archdiocese as a corporation and not against individuals. They would not bring jail time, and the archdiocese could face a maximum of $18,000 in fines if convicted. The investigation continues.

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CANADA
CBC News

Lawyer Geoff Budden is hopeful that a civil suit by victims of abuse at the notorious Mount Cashel orphanage against the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corp. of St. John’s can proceed to trial this fall.

This follows a recent ruling by the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador.

“I think this is an important step, that gets us closer, hopefully, to a resolution of these claims after all of these years,” Budden told CBC News.

The plaintiffs say they were victims of physical and/or sexual abuse at the former orphanage between the 1940s and mid-60s.

The Episcopal Corp. had applied to hold a separate trial — referred to in legal terms as bifurcation — to determine whether it was liable for the abuse at the orphanage, with the question of damages to be determined later.

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MINNESOTA
Grand Forks Herald

By Sarah Volpenhein Today

A Roman Catholic priest convicted of sexually abusing a 16-year-old girl while working as a priest in Minnesota will walk a free man.

Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul was sentenced to time already served in jail after pleading guilty to fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct in Roseau County District Court.

As part of a plea agreement with the state, Jeyapaul was sentenced to one year and one day behind bars, time he had already served since his arrest in India in 2012.

Jeyapaul also faced charges of first-degree criminal sexual conduct in a second case out of Roseau County, but those were dismissed as part of the plea agreement.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Road to Recovery

Archbishop Emeritus of Hartford, CT, Daniel Cronin, who is also former Bishop of Fall River, MA, is named as a defendant in a Massachusetts lawsuit for negligent supervision (among other things) by two clergy sexual abuse victims from the Fall River, MA Diocese that was led by Bishop Daniel Cronin for over twenty years. This lawsuit has been filed as a result of a Connecticut lawsuit which was dismissed (among other reasons) because Archbishop Cronin agreed to waive the statute of limitations in Massachusetts

Fall River, MA, priest Msgr. Maurice Souza, sexually abused boys in CT, MA, and elsewhere.

Archbishop Emeritus of Hartford, CT, Daniel Cronin, when Bishop of Fall River, MA, among other things, negligently supervised Msgr. Maurice Souza, allowing him to sexually abuse at least two minor-aged boys for approximately ten years.

What
A press conference announcing the filing of a lawsuit against Archbishop Emeritus of Hartford, CT Daniel Cronin, who is also former Bishop of the Diocese of Fall River, MA.

When
Tuesday, June 16, 2015 at 11:00 am

Where
On the public sidewalk in front of the headquarters of the Diocese of Fall River, MA, near 423 Highland Avenue, Fall River, MA 02720 – 508-675-1311

Who
Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D., President of Road to Recovery, Inc., a non-profit charity that assists victims of sexual abuse and their families and advocate for the plaintiffs in this case

Why
A Connecticut Superior Court ruled on May 6, 2015 that in dismissing a civil case against former Fall River Bishop and Archbishop Emeritus of Hartford, CT, Daniel Cronin, and the Fall River, MA Diocese, former Bishop of Fall River, MA and Archbishop Emeritus of Hartford, CT Daniel Cronin will willingly travel to Massachusetts to testify in the case of two plaintiffs who were sexually abused by a Fall River, MA priest for approximately ten years, and that Archbishop Emeritus of Hartford, CT Daniel Cronin will submit to the jurisdiction of the Massachusetts court and waive any claim that the action is barred by the statute of limitations in Massachusetts. Former Fall River, MA, Bishop and Archbishop Emeritus of Hartford, CT, Daniel Cronin was the supervisor of Msgr. Maurice Souza when he was a priest of the Diocese of Fall River, MA. Souza sexually abused two children from approximately 9 to approximately 17 years of age, who were altar boys at St. Anthony’s Parish in East Falmouth on Cape Cod. The two victims were taken to Connecticut and Massachusetts for athletic events and other reasons and were sexually abused in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Archbishop Emeritus of Hartford, CT, Daniel Cronin, when he was Bishop of Fall River, MA, is accused of negligent hiring, retention, direction, and supervision, among other things.

Contacts
Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D., Road to Recovery, Inc. – 862-368-2800
Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, Boston, MA – 617-523-6250

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UNITED STATES
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on June 15, 2015

My email was flooded this morning with news that St. Paul and Minneapolis Archbishop John C. Nienstedt and Auxiliary Bishop Lee A. Piché had resigned. If you haven’t been following the news, the archdiocese has been hammered during the past two years as legal disclosures showed that ng a bad week

Less than two weeks ago, prosecutors filed criminal charges against the archdiocese. Although Nienstedt and Piché were not charged, the complaint outlined how both men knew about abuse and did little to nothing to protect children.

This morning, the Vatican announced that they had accepted the men’s resignations.

The resignations a positive moves and show a huge step in the right direction when it comes to punishing church officials who covered up abuse. Following on the heals of the resignation of Kansas City-St. Joseph Bishop Robert Finn, these ousters are well-needed, if not very overdue.

But Francis is not a brave reformer.

Before you wag your fingers at me and say, “Gee, Joelle! Why are you always so critical? Francis is doing great things. He’s different,” we need to take note of some very important facts:

1) The Vatican was not the group that exposed the wrongdoing of these bishops.

The ONLY reason we know about Finn is because brave prosecutors did the right thing and charged him with child endangerment. No one in the Vatican was going to do a thing. In fact, none of Finn’s fellow bishops called on law enforcement indict Finn for covering up child pornography. Even after the conviction, Finn’s fellow bishops said nothing in support of the victims.

2) The only reason we know about the scope and scale of crimes in Minnesota is because of their three-year civil window for victims.

Recently Minnesota passed The Child Victims’ Act, a three-year “window” that allows victims of child sex crimes to use the civil court to expose their abusers and get justice, no matter when the abuse occurred.

As more and more victims came forward to file child sex abuse and cover-up lawsuits, their attorneys were able to get access to and expose THOUSANDS of secret internal church documents that outlined how men like Nienstedt and former vicar general Kevin McDonough knew about abuse and abusers and did NOTHING to protect children at risk.

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CIUDAD DEL VATICANO
Andina

08:41. Ciudad del Vaticano, jun. 15. La Santa Sede anunció el lunes que en julio comenzará el primer juicio en el Vaticano de un prelado acusado de pederastia, así como la dimisión de dos obispos estadounidenses acusados de haber encubierto a curas pederastas de su diócesis.

“El presidente del tribunal del Estado del Vaticano acusó al ex nuncio apostólico de la República Dominicana Jozef Wesolowski. La primera audiencia tendrá lugar el 11 de julio”, informaba un comunicado.

Los delitos de los que se acusa al antiguo embajador fueron cometidos presuntamente durante su estancia en Roma, entre agosto de 2013 y el 22 de septiembre de 2014, cuando fue detenidos, así como durante sus funciones como nuncio (embajador) en República Dominicana, entre el 24 de enero de 2008 y el 21 de agosto de 2013.

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MINNESOTA
Wall Street Journal

By TOM CORRIGAN
June 15, 2015

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, whose top two officials resigned Monday in wake of criminal charges over the alleged failure to protect children from abusive priests, is facing an unprecedented convergence of litigation that lawyers say will continue to pose serious challenges for the archdiocese’s leadership.

In a statement Monday, Archbishop John C. Nienstedt, who stepped aside along with Auxiliary Bishop Lee Anthony Piche, said he resigned to give the archdiocese a new beginning.

“My leadership has unfortunately drawn attention away from the good works of His Church and those who perform them,” he said.

The resignations and recent criminal charges come as church leaders across the country continue to grapple with widespread allegations of child sexual abuse at the hands of clergy and related lawsuits. The abuse scandal has cost dioceses and other Catholic institutions in the U.S. nearly $2.9 billion since 2004 in compensation paid out to alleged victims, according to a recent report issued by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

“We’re at a new turning point, because we’ve never had criminal issues in the midst of a Roman Catholic bankruptcy,” said Patrick Wall, a former priest who now works for Jeff Anderson & Associates, a law firm representing a group of alleged abuse victims. “The system is converging and applying full pressure through civil, criminal and bankruptcy courts.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Tablet

15 June 2015 by Danny Sullivan

On 10 June Pope Francis’ “C9” advisory group of cardinals had one of their regular meetings with him, and if we needed persuading that Pope Francis was serious about reform, the three matters reported on related to: the Vatican finances and how they were overseen, the reorganisation of Vatican communications and radical proposals from the Vatican Commission for the Protection of Minors.
The proposals around safeguarding suggested putting an end to system whereby three different congregations deal with complaints about bishops, and instead set up a tribunal that would be located within the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. This alone would judge bishops in relation to abuse of office when connected to the abuse of minors.

The proposals for these changes, presented by Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley, were agreed by the advisory group of cardinals and immediately approved by Pope Francis. For a Church that is supposed to think in centuries, that is genuinely impressive.

As the commission recommended, Francis agreed that the tribunal should be properly set up, resourced and be given five years to settle to its work and then be evaluated.

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday June 15

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 )

A pedophile priest will soon be let out of jail. We fear he’ll strike again.

Fr. Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul – who worked in two Minnesota dioceses: St. Paul and Crookston – has been sentenced to “time served” for child sex crimes. He’ll be deported to his native India where kids are ever more vulnerable to savvy predators than kids are here.

On one hand, we’re glad that it’s now crystal clear to virtually everyone that he’s a dangerous man who should be kept away from kids. And we’re grateful to Megan Peterson, whose courage and persistence has kept this cunning child molester off the streets for years.

But we’re deeply worried that Fr. Jeyapaul will soon be near unsuspecting families and will assault more children. And if that happens, the blame can squarely be put on US and Indian Catholic officials who have acted irresponsibly from the outset in this terrible case.

We sorely wish law enforcement could have pursued more charges against Fr. Jeyapaul and kept him locked up much longer.

Few child molesters in history have been as widely exposed as Fr. Jeyapaul, thanks to Megan’s tireless and courageous prevention efforts. Still, most of his neighbors, relatives and colleagues likely know little or nothing about his crimes.

Megan has done almost everything possible – and more than perhaps any survivor we know – to protect kids from this monster. She filed a civil lawsuit, repeatedly cooperated with law enforcement, and even travelled to Geneva where she told a United Nations panel how Crookston Catholic officials acted recklessly, callously, hurtfully and deceptively in this case. She has courageously, generously and effectively taken worked hard and taken risks to make it much harder for Fr. Jeyapaul to hurt more girls or boys. We are incredibly proud of her and grateful to her.

When child sex abuse allegations against Fr. Jeyapaul surfaced, he quickly went back to India. We suspect that Crookston Catholic officials helped him flee. (According to BishopAccountability.org, Minnesota Catholic officials “knew of rumors about inappropriate behavior by Fr. Jeyapaul in 8/04” but Fr. Jeyapaul “suddenly returned to India in 9/05.”)

In India, Catholic officials gave him a job overseeing schools knowing full well that he was considered a fugitive from US criminal authorities.

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UNITED STATES
Religion News Service

Minneapolis Archbishop John Nienstedt resigns after charges over abuse scandal

By David Gibson | Religion News Service June 15

The Vatican on Monday (June 15) launched a major housecleaning of the scandal-plagued Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, accepting the resignation of Archbishop John Nienstedt along with that of a top Nienstedt aide, Auxiliary Bishop Lee Piche.

The moves come a little over a week after authorities charged the archdiocese for failing to protect children from an abusive priest and days after Pope Francis unveiled the first-ever system for disciplining bishops who do not act against predator clerics.

A Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, told reporters he did not know whether Nienstedt and Piche would be subject to further canonical investigation under the new process. “The situation is too complex to make a prediction on this yet,” he said, according to the Catholic news site Crux. …

Observers say these latest moves seem to signal an unprecedented effort by Rome to hold bishops accountable in the abuse crisis.

“I think this is a great tribute to Pope Francis,” Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, one of the pontiff’s top allies in the U.S. hierarchy, said when asked about Nienstedt’s resignation.

Wuerl was speaking at a conference bringing together bishops and labor leaders at the AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington to talk about the economy.

Wuerl said that while the Catholic Church has done a good job of addressing the problem of abusive priests, “What the pope has done is assure this also includes those responsible for supervision.”

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MINNESOTA
Seattle PI

1:05 p.m. CDT

The Minnesota prosecutor who brought criminal charges against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis says the archbishop’s resignation won’t stop his investigation.

Ramsey County Attorney John Choi says his goal is to hold the archdiocese accountable for actions that he says didn’t protect children.

Choi says Archbishop John Nienstedt’s resignation doesn’t directly accomplish that goal, although he calls it a good step toward a new beginning.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Monday accepted the resignation of the Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis in the United States, John Nienstedt, together with that of auxiliary bishop Lee Piché. The two Church leaders resigned from their posts under the provisions of the Code of Canon Law 401 §2 which allows bishops to step down because of illness or some other serious reason that makes them unfit for office.

The resignations come after the archdiocese was accused, earlier this month, of failing to protect local children from an abusive priest. Prosecutors on June 5th said the archdiocese failed to respond adequately to “numerous and repeated reports” of misconduct by Fr Curtis Wehmeyer, from his entrance into the seminary in 1997 until his formal dismissal as a priest in March of this year.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) The disgraced former Apostolic Nuncio to the Dominican Republic, Józef Wesołowski, has been ordered to stand trial in the Vatican, on charges he possessed child pornography and abused minors. The Charges stem both from his stay in Rome from August 2013 until the moment of his arrest (on 22 September 2014) and from the period he spent in the Dominican Republic, during the five years in which he held the office of Nuncio (24 January 2008 – 21 August 2013). A statement regarding the decision of the Tribunal of Vatican City State follows, below:

************************************************
The President of the Tribunal of Vatican City State, Professor Giuseppe Dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto, by decree of 6 June 2015 in response to the request submitted by the Office of the Promoter of Justice, has ordered the trial of the former apostolic nuncio to Dominican Republic, Józef Wesołowski. The first hearing of the trial is scheduled for 11 July 2015. The ex-prelate is accused of a number of offences committed both during his stay in Rome from August 2013 until the moment of his arrest (on 22 September 2014) and in the period he spent in the Dominican Republic, during the five years in which he held the office of apostolic nuncio (he was appointed as nuncio to the Dominican Republic on 24 January 2008 and apostolic delegate to Puerto Rico, offices from which he resigned on 21 August 2013).

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release Monday, June 15

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

Vatican officials claimed that the arrest of Archbishop Josef Wesolowski, the first inside the Vatican related to allegations of sexual abuse, in order to send a strong signal that even high-ranking Church officials would be held accountable. We dispute this claim. We believe that Wesolowski’s case is being handled internally by church figures for public relations reasons – to give the impression of “getting tough” while actually concealing cover ups and minimizing publicity.

[MSN]

[Yahoo! News]

Internally handling child sex crimes, whether by a custodian or cardinal or papal panel, is hardly progress. So we are not encouraged by Francis’ decision to rebuff police and prosecutors and to deal with Wesolowski through secretive church processes. Civilized countries usually have independent, experienced and impartial justice systems to handle crimes. That’s what must happen with clerics who commit and conceal child sex crimes.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

By AMY FORLITI Associated Press JUNE 15, 2015

MINNEAPOLIS — John Nienstedt’s term as leader of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis was rocky almost from the start.

His conservative views became well-known when he launched an expensive and unapologetic fight against gay marriage. In the last two years, he was besieged by a clergy sex-abuse scandal that included numerous lawsuits from victims and led to bankruptcy. Earlier this month, the archdiocese was criminally charged for failing to protect children.

On Monday, Nienstedt stepped down, saying he wanted to give the archdiocese a fresh start after his leadership had “drawn attention away from” the church’s good works and “those who perform them.”

Nienstedt took over the St. Paul archdiocese in 2007, replacing moderate Archbishop Harry Flynn, and his conservative reputation preceded him. As bishop in the nearby New Ulm Diocese, Nienstedt had criticized his predecessor’s call for dialogue on opening the priesthood to women. He also chided a priest in the small town of St. Peter for worshipping with Lutherans on several occasions after a tornado destroyed the town’s Catholic church in 1998.

And he led a drive to pressure legislators for a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as between one man and one woman, a cause he would take up again in St. Paul.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Archbishop Nienstedt and Auxiliary Bishop Pichè of St Paul’s-Minneapolis after Prosecutors charged the archdiocese for failing to protect minors from a predator priest

GERARD O’CONNELL

In a surprise but highly significant decision regarding bishop accountability, Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Archbishop John Clayton Nienstedt of St Paul’s and Minneapolis and also that of the archdiocese’s auxiliary bishop, Lee Anthony Piché.

The Vatican broke the news at midday on Monday, June 15, and said that Francis took the decision in conformity with Canon 401 #2 of the Church’s Code of Canon Law. Article 2 of that canon states: “A diocesan bishop who has become less able to fulfill his office because of ill-health or some other grave cause is earnestly requested to present his resignation from office.”

The “grave reason” for which the archbishop and auxiliary bishop handed in – or were asked to hand in – their resignation existed when Prosecutors, on June 5, charged the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis over its handling of clergy abuse claims. They charged that the archdiocese – and by implication its leaders – had failed to protect children from harm and had “turned a blind eye” to repeated reports of inappropriate behavior by one of its priests who was later convicted of molesting boys.

Ramsey County Attorney John Choi charged the archdiocese with six counts of “gross demeanor”. Announcing this, he said there was ‘not yet’ enough evidence to charge any individual. The charges relate to the archdiocese’s handing of the case of the former priest, Curtis Wehmeyer, who is currently serving a five-year prison sentence for molesting two boys and faces further prosecution involving a third boy in Wisconsin.

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

Jennifer Haselberger

The priests of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis received this message via email early this morning.

Subject:

Message from Archbishop John C. Nienstedt

My dear brothers in Christ, I would have preferred to share this with you in person, but the desire of the Holy See to announce this made it impossible to wait until the Presbyterial Assembly in Rochester to tell you. In order to give the Archdiocese a new beginning amidst the many challenges we face, I have submitted my resignation as Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis to our Holy Father, Pope Francis, and I have just received word that he has accepted it.

The Catholic Church is not our Church, but Christ’s Church, and we are merely stewards for a time. My leadership has unfortunately drawn attention away from the good works of His Church and those who perform them. Thus, my decision to step down. In addition, Bishop Lee Piché submitted his resignation to our Holy Father and it too was accepted. Our Holy Father has appointed Archbishop Bernard Hebda, Coadjutor Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Newark, to serve as the Apostolic Administrator for our Archdiocese until another Archbishop is appointed.

Bishop Piché’s statement to the media, and Archbishop Hebda’s bio and open letter to the
faithful are attached. This evening in Rochester, Bishop Andrew Cozzens will have an opportunity to address all the priests about this. It has been my privilege the last seven years to serve the local Church. I have come to appreciate deeply the vitality of the 187 parishes that make up the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. I am grateful for the support I have received from you, religious men and women and lay leaders, especially those who have collaborated with me in the oversight of this local Church. I leave with a clear conscience knowing that my team and I have put in plaace solid protocols to ensure the protection of minors and vulnerable adults. I ask for continued prayers for the well-being of this Archdiocese and its future leaders. I also ask for your continued prayers for me.

Fraternally Yours in Christ,
Archbishop John C. Niensted

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

By Inés San Martín
Vatican correspondent June 15, 2015

ROME — A Vatican prosecutor has ordered a defrocked Polish archbishop to stand trial for allegedly paying for sex with children while serving as a papal ambassador in the Dominican Republic.

A Vatican spokesman said Wednesday that ex-Archbishop Józef Wesolowski has been charged with two counts — sexual abuse of minors and possession of child pornography — and will stand trial July 11.

It will be the first criminal trial of a sexual abuse case conducted by the Vatican. The Vatican’s criminal courts have jurisdiction over Wesolowski because he is a papal diplomat and citizen of the Vatican City State.

The case has been highly sensitive, given that Wesolowski was an ambassador of the Holy See — a direct representative of the pope and not just one of the world’s 440,000 priests — and had been ordained both a priest and a bishop by St. John Paul II.

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UNITED STATES
Crux

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

On Monday, two more American bishops lost their jobs while facing charges of failing to respond appropriately to accusations of child abuse lodged against personnel under their supervision.

More colloquially, they stepped down amid controversy related not to the crime, but the cover-up.

The resignations of Archbishop John Nienstedt and Auxiliary Bishop Lee Anthony Piche of St. Paul-Minneapolis come less than two months after the exit under similar circumstances of Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Missouri.

In 2012, Finn had become the lone American bishop to be criminally convicted on a misdemeanor charge of delaying to report an allegation of child abuse. Last month, prosecutors charged the St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese under Nienstedt as a corporation for having ignored repeated reports of inappropriate behavior by a priest who was later convicted of molesting two boys.

According to an American clearinghouse on the abuse scandals called BishopAccountability.org, Nienstedt and Piche become the 17th and 18th bishops to resign after being publicly criticized for covering up child abuse.

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MINNESOTA
Aljazeera America

Prosecutors earlier this month charged the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis with ignoring reports of abuse

June 15, 2015

The archbishop of St. Paul, Minnesota, and a deputy bishop resigned Monday after prosecutors there charged the archdiocese with having failed to protect children from unspeakable harm from a pedophile priest.

The Vatican said Pope Francis accepted the resignations of Archbishop John Nienstedt and Auxiliary Bishop Lee Anthony Piche. They resigned under the code of canon law that allows bishops to resign before they retire because of illness or some other “grave” reason that makes them unfit for office.

Earlier this month, prosecutors charged the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis as a corporation of having “turned a blind eye” to repeated reports of inappropriate behavior by a priest who was later convicted of molesting two boys. No individual was named in the complaint.

Prosecutors said in March that no charges would be brought against Nienstedt, who had been accused by a boy of inappropriately touching his buttocks during a group photo session. The prosecutors said there was “insufficient evidence” to charge the archbishop, and Nienstedt denied any inappropriate contact.

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NEW JERSEY/MINNESOTA
NJ.com

By Craig McCarthy | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on June 15, 2015

In the midst of a sex abuse scandal in Minnesota, an archbishop and another top bishop have resigned and the pope has appointed a New Jersey Catholic official the interim head of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, according to reports.

Archbishop John Nienstedt said in a statement he is leaving the archdiocese “with a clear conscience.”

Although not charged individually, Nienstedt and Auxiliary Bishop Lee Piché announced Monday the pope had accepted their resignations, according to The Washington Post.

“In order to give the Archdiocese a new beginning amidst the many challenges we face, I have submitted my resignation as Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis to our Holy Father, Pope Francis, and I have just received word that he has accepted it,” Nienstedt said.

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UNITED STATES
Hamilton and Grffin on Rights

Jun 15, 2015 | Terry McKiernan

In the children’s rights community, and especially among Catholics, the big news this past week was the decision by Pope Francis to create a new tribunal in Rome, which will try bishops who have covered up child abuse or have enabled the perpetrators. The Pope’s fast action on a recommendation from his Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors – instantaneous by Vatican standards – was a vindication for the Commission, its leaders Cardinal Seán O’Malley and Rev. Robert W. Oliver, and the two highly respected survivors who serve on it, Marie Collins and Peter Saunders.

Pope Francis must now get his new tribunal up to speed very quickly, if it is to cope with the situation in Australia (where a powerful Royal Commission is investigating the role of Pope Francis’s financial czar, Cardinal George Pell, in several abuse cases). The Pope’s speedy removal of Archbishop John C. Nienstedt and Auxiliary Bishop Lee A. Piché is yet another sign that he considers the tribunal’s work of the utmost importance.

Those actions by civil authorities are a reminder that change has been forced on the Catholic church by survivors willing to come forward, by prosecutors and inquiries able to investigate, and by civil suits that have made public many thousands of pages of evidence. Courage and persistence have now compelled the creation of the new Vatican tribunal, and we will see whether it brings the necessary zeal and transparency to its own work.

In a crucial development, Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh, the leader of the Catholic church in Ireland, told reporters after a meeting of the Irish bishops that “justice is indeed retrospective” and that he supports the tribunal’s working on past as well as present and future cases [see transcript with video]. Marie Collins, one of the survivors on the Pontifical Commission, subsequently confirmed that this was the case, raising the possibility that Cardinal Seán Brady, Cardinal Bernard Law, and Cardinal Roger Mahony could soon be experiencing the tender mercies of the tribunal.

While all of this has been unfolding, I’ve been reading the new biography of Archbishop Raymond G. Hunthausen of Seattle, A Still and Quiet Conscience: The Archbishop Who Challenged a Pope, a President, and a Church, by John A. McCoy (Orbis Books, 2015). As a reporter, McCoy covered the archdiocese, and then he worked as Hunthausen’s PR person during the final years in Seattle. The Hunthausen story as McCoy tells it is quite relevant to the tribunal’s retrospective task.

Hunthausen is the last surviving American bishop to have participated in the Second Vatican Council. He was the bishop of Helena MT for thirteen years (1962–1975) and archbishop of Seattle for sixteen years (1975–1991), retiring early at age 70 after an epic battle with Pope John Paul II, who was unhappy about Hunthausen’s anti-nuclear activism, his tax protest, his advocating for Vatican II–inspired reform, or his support of gay Catholics, or perhaps all of the above.

Conspicuous by its absence from that list of causes championed by Hunthausen is child safety. Yet in Helena and Seattle, many of Hunthausen’s priests were molesting children, and a good amount of his time was spent managing those cases.

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MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

Resignation of Archbishop Nienstedt: A step in the right direction and a time for reckoning

(St. Paul, MN) – The resignations of Archbishop Nienstedt and Bishop Piché and acceptance of them by the Vatican signals an important step in the necessary reckoning in the child abuse crisis. It is equally important to note that the resignation of one or two men from high positions does not in any way signal the end to the crisis or deal with the scope of the problem. It does signal that finally there is a small measure of reckoning under pressure. That pressure has been brought because of the courage of the survivors and the Minnesota Legislature. It is the opening of the courthouse doors by the legislature and courageous survivors bringing scores of lawsuits that led to the body of evidence—documents, secret files, depositions (see www.andersonadvocates.com) that created the pressure and exposure.

The resignations come as no surprise. The volume of documents and disclosures that have been disgorged through litigation, testimony given by the top officials and the body of evidence that has been developed by the civil suits and the investigation done by Ramsey County Attorney’s office foreshadowed the resignations, but still falls short of full accountability. It falls short of full accountability because this whole problem is not about one man or two bishops. It is about the system that’s entrenched in the old ways and adhering to secrecy and self-governance operating above the law.

The journey is far from over, the struggle remains to cause and create full accountability and reckoning for those who are complicit in the crimes and the reckless handling of so many priests. But there is power in symbolism and this is a symbolic gesture of a time for reckoning. To the survivors who have broken the silence and on whose shoulders we stand every day in this journey, we express gratitude. Reckoning and transparency is truth—truth grows hope.

Contact: Jeff Anderson: Office/651.964.3523 Cell/612.817.8665
Mike Finnegan: Office/651.964.3523 Cell/612.205.5531

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MINNESOTA
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Associated Press

9:15 a.m. (CDT)

A Minnesota attorney who has filed countless lawsuits against the Catholic Church over alleged clergy abuse says he’s not surprised by the resignation of the archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Archbishop John Nienstedt announced his resignation Monday, along with that of Bishop Lee Piche (PEE-‘shay). Their departure comes less than two weeks after the archdiocese was charged with failing to protect children.

Attorney Jeff Anderson says it’s clear to him that the two were forced out. He says their resignations are part of an “important reckoning” for the failure of top officials to respond appropriately when priests were accused of abusing children.

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MINNESOTA
Houston Chronicle

By The Associated Press | June 15, 2015

Parishioners leaving morning mass at the Cathedral of St. Paul have mixed feelings about the resignations of Archbishop John Nienstedt and Bishop Lee Anthony Piche.

The clerics’ departures come less than two weeks after the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis was charged with failing to protect children from clergy abuse.

Parishioner Leslie Ahlers, of Eagan, said Monday she considers Nienstedt a dedicated and thoughtful church leader, but that his resignation heralds a new chapter for the archdiocese.

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UNTIED STATES
Road to Recovery

REGARDING THE RESIGNATION OF ARCHBISHOP JOHN NIENSTEDT OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF ST. PAUL-MINNEAPOLIS AND THE APPOINTMENT OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY CO-ADJUTOR ARCHBISHOP BERNARD HEBDA AS TEMPORARY ADMINISTRATOR

Monday, June 15, 2015

It appears that the re-arrangement of the deck chairs on the Titanic continues in the Catholic Church with no indication that the Titanic is essentially being righted so the ship can sail in calm waters. Of course, the resignation of Archbishop John Nienstedt is welcome news. Archbishop Nienstedt did nothing but add to the pain and distress of sexual abuse victims and their advocates. With his background as an alleged sexual abuser in such places as a Detroit seminary and his less than ethical character as a member of the Church’s hierarchy, Archbishop Nienstedt never should have been appointed to the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis. His tenure was nothing but disgraceful. But that could be said for hundreds of other bishops, and the ship continues to sink while the chairs are being re-arranged.

The Vatican has chosen to take one of the Titanic “chairs” from the Newark Archdiocese to be the temporary administrator of the St. Paul-Minneapolis Archdiocese. Co-adjutor Archbishop Bernard Hebda, who was scheduled to succeed the disgraced Newark Archbishop John Myers when he submits his retirement letter in 2016, is now headed to Minnesota to occupy that Archdiocese’s seat, at least temporarily. In much the same way that Bishop Joseph Galante (Camden, New Jersey) asked out of the Diocese of Dallas, TX when he was co-adjutor bishop because he couldn’t get along with former Dallas Bishop Charles Grahmann, it is clear that Archbishop Bernard Hebda had had it with Archbishop John Myers and his lack of leadership in the Archdiocese of Newark. It was a perfect pretext to re-arrange the chairs in two sinking ships. We don’t foresee Archbishop Hebda ever becoming the Archbishop of Newark and believe he will stay in the Midwest.

What does all this mean? It means that Pope Francis is trying, but it might be too late. The Church continues to sink under the weight of its own corruption and mismanagement, and nothing but a full-scale abandonment of structures and policies and that created this mess will change things. The hierarchy of the Church has to go, with a more democratic and people-centered organization taking its place.

Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D.
Road to Recovery, Inc.
P.O. Box 279
Livingston, NJ 07039
862-368-2800

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MINNESOTA/MICHIGAN
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, June 15

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 Minnesota Catholic archbishop whose archdiocese faces criminal charges for endangering kids has resigned. But this should be just the beginning of a long process of exposing and punishing clerics who put kids in harm’s way.

Twin Cities Archbishop John Nienstedt spent almost 50 years in Detroit. He also faces allegations of sexual misconduct with ten seminarians. At least some of the reported misdeeds happened in Detroit, where Nienstedt for six years was President of Sacred Heart Major Seminary. In 1996, he was named an Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Detroit.

Detroit’s current archbishop must help Minnesota prosecutors and Michigan Catholics, by aggressively reaching out to anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered sexual misdeeds by his colleague.

[Star Tribune]

For the safety of parishioners and the public, Detroit Archbishop Allen Vigneron must act. We beg him to use his vast resources – parish websites, church bulletins and pulpit announcements – to seek out anyone else who may have been hurt by Nienstedt. This is the very least Vigneron should do.

When allegations of sex crimes or misdeeds against clergy arise, Catholic officials almost always do the absolute bare minimum. Rarely, if ever, do they act responsibly and decisively, by helping the investigations. And by their silence and inaction, Catholic officials make such investigations harder and less successful.

Catholic officials can’t have their cake and eat it too, by insisting on internal investigations into sexual misconduct but doing little or nothing to help with these investigations.

For centuries, sexual misconduct has been carefully and effectively hidden by a rigid, secretive, all-male monarchy in the Catholic church. Despite promises of reform, such misconduct remains largely hidden. Vigneron can become part of the solution, by taking decisive action now. Or he can keep being part of the problem, by passively sitting back and refusing to extend a helping hand to Minnesota investigators and to perhaps even more suffering Detroit Catholics, some of whom might be his own priests.

(One of Nienstedt’s accusers, a former priest named Joel Cycenas, has spoken publicly in the Star Tribune.

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MINNESOTA
Religion News Service

David Gibson | June 15, 2015

(RNS) The Vatican on Monday (June 15) launched a major housecleaning of the scandal-plagued Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, accepting the resignation of Archbishop John Nienstedt along with that of a top Nienstedt aide, Auxiliary Bishop Lee Piche.

The moves come a little over a week after authorities charged the archdiocese for failing to protect children from an abusive priest and days after Pope Francis unveiled the first-ever system for disciplining bishops who do not act against predator clerics.

A Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, told reporters he did not know whether Nienstedt and Piche would be subject to further canonical investigation under the new process but added: “It is a valid question.”

In April, Bishop Robert Finn of Missouri, who three years earlier became the first bishop convicted of failing to report a priest suspected of child abuse, was forced to resign, effectively the first bishop in the decades-long crisis that the Vatican pushed out for covering up for an abuser.

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VATIKAN
Die Welt

[Pope Francis makes the goat the gardener.]

Der Papst macht also Nägel mit Köpfen: Franziskus hat verkünden lassen, dass er einen Gerichtshof im Vatikan einrichten will, der sexuellen Missbrauch in der Kirche aburteilen soll. Das Besondere: Nicht die Täter sollen vor den Kirchenrichtern stehen, sondern jene Oberhirten, die Fälle von sexuellem Missbrauch durch Priester oder kirchliche Mitarbeiter in ihrem Bistum vertuscht haben, statt sie aufzuklären.

Doch schon bevor der Gerichtshof überhaupt eingerichtet ist, gibt es Zweifel gerade unter Opfern, ob es dem Papst wirklich ernst ist mit der Aufklärung. Grund: Der Gerichtshof wird in der Glaubenskongregation angesiedelt, wo mit Gerhard Ludwig Kardinal Müller ein Kirchenfürst sitzt, der einst selbst als Bischof Erfahrung mit dem Vertuschen eines Missbrauchsfalls gemacht hat. Das zumindest bestätigten deutsche Gerichte.

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VATIKAN
N-TV

So etwas gab es im Vatikan noch nicht: Schon im vergangenen Jahr wurde der hochrangige, polnische Geistliche festgenommen, weil er Kinder sexuell missbraucht haben soll. Nun drohen dem 66-Jährigen bis zu zwölf Jahre Haft.

Der frühere Papstbotschafter Josef Wesolowski wird wegen des Verdachts auf sexuellen Missbrauch von Kindern im Vatikan vor Gericht gestellt. Der Prozess soll am 11. Juli beginnen, wie der Kirchenstaat mitteilte.

Dem ehemaligen polnischen Erzbischof werden unter anderem sexueller Missbrauch von Kindern und der Besitz von kinderpornografischem Material vorgeworfen. Es ist das erste Mal, dass im Vatikan ein hochrangiger katholischer Geistlicher wegen Vorwürfen des sexuellen Missbrauchs vor Gericht gestellt wird. Wesolowski droht nun eine Haftstrafe bis zu zwölf Jahren.

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VATIKAN
BZ Basel (Schweiz)

Der frühere Papstbotschafter Josef Wesolowski wird wegen des Verdachts auf sexuellen Missbrauch von Kindern im Vatikan vor Gericht gestellt. Der Prozess gegen den 66-Jährigen soll am 11. Juli beginnen, wie der Kirchenstaat am Montag mitteilte.

Bis 2013 war Josef Wesolowski Botschafter des Papstes. Ab Juli steht er vor Gericht. Dem früheren polnischen Erzbischof werden unter anderem sexueller Missbrauch von Kindern und der Besitz von kinderpornografischem Material vorgeworfen. Es ist das erste Mal, dass im Vatikan ein hochrangiger katholischer Geistlicher wegen Vorwürfen des sexuellen Missbrauchs vor Gericht gestellt wird.

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NEW JERSEY/MINNESOTA
Survivors Networkof Those Abused by Priests

Statement by Mark Crawford, New Jersey SNAP leader, 732-632-7687, mecrawf@comcast.net

The new head of the Twin Cities archdiocese defended a controversial colleague who spent extravagantly on an opulent home for himself.

In an op ed last year, Bishop Bernard Hebda defended the residence that Archbishop John Myers is building for himself.

[NorthJersey.com]

We feel sorry for Newark Catholics and now Twin Cities Catholics who had assumed or now assume that Bishop Hebda would be different from and better than Myers or Neinstedt. In Newark, Hebda has no doubt dashed their hopes. In St. Paul, we suspect that he will.

And we’re sad too that Hebda displays a greater loyalty to his selfish colleague than to parishioners.

Pope Francis urges us to show mercy to the poor. Hebda, however, urges us to show mercy to an imperial and imperious monarch, a man who has shown, time and time again over a long clerical career, that he values his power and reputation more than victims and parishioners.

It’s striking that Hebda can’t even bring himself to use the phrase “Myers’ personal home.” Instead, he euphemistically calls it a “construction project.”

When Pope Francis sent Hebda to New Jersey, he again missed a clear opportunity to discipline, demote, denounce or even defrock a blatantly reckless, callous and deceitful prelate and send a powerful signal that cover ups will no longer be tolerated. Now, sending Hebda to Minnesota, Francis again refuses to be honest about the troubling crisis there and about his motives.

It will be tempting for many to read more into this appointment than they should. Because Vatican officials usually refuse to disclose the rationale for their actions – or are notoriously vague when they do so – no one can really be certain whether this move is in any way connected to Neinstedt’s repeatedly irresponsible actions with predator priests.

But many Catholics will assume this. We caution them against leaping to conclusions. No one person caused the horrific scandal in Newark. No one person can fix it. The real solution isn’t juggling secretive church officials. The real solution requires every single current and former Catholic Church employee and member to call law enforcement with any knowledge or suspicions of clergy sex crimes and cover ups, no matter how old, small, vague or seemingly insignificant that knowledge or those suspicions might be. That’s what protects kids – the courage of many adults, not the shuffling of two officials.

Finally, Bishop Hebda is a lawyer, a fact that worries us. Most bishops approach clergy sex abuse and cover up cases like lawyers, instead of shepherds.

And he’s worked in two states with particularly archaic, predator-friendly child sex abuse laws, which means it’s hard to really assess how he’s handled clergy sex crimes and cover ups.

Neither of those dioceses has posted names of predator priests on their websites, as roughly 30 US bishops have. And Hebda has done nothing in Gaylord or Newark that indicates to us that he’ll be any different or better than the overwhelming majority of his clerical colleagues who continue to conceal clergy sex crimes.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Jun. 15, 2015

VATICAN CITY

The former papal ambassador to the Dominican Republic who left his post in 2013 after being accused of sexual misconduct with minors will stand trial next month at the Vatican with possible “international legal cooperation.”

Former archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, a Polish-born prelate who served in the Latin American country from 2008-August 2013, will stand trial beginning July 11, the Vatican announced Monday.

Wesolowski was recalled to Rome nearly two years ago after allegations of abusing young boys and possessing child pornography. While originally free to roam the city upon his arrival, he has been living at the Vatican under a form of house arrest since being arrested by Vatican officials in September 2014

Monday’s statement said that the president of the Vatican city-state’s tribunal “has ordered the trial” of the former nuncio, for offenses from his time in the Dominican Republic and while living at the Vatican since 2013.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic Herald (UK)

by Carol Glatz
posted Monday, 15 Jun 2015

Jozef Wesolowski accused of carrying out ‘a number of offences’ in the Dominican Republic

A former Vatican nuncio will stand trial in a Vatican court on charges of the sexual abuse of minors and possession of child pornography.

Jozef Wesolowski, the laicised former nuncio to the Dominican Republic, is accused of “a number of offences” committed between 2008 and the date of his arrest in September 2014.

Giuseppe Dalla Torre, president of the tribunal of Vatican City State, ordered the trial, the Vatican announced today. The first hearing will be held on July 11.

“The serious allegations will be scrutinised” by the Vatican City State’s judicial system, “which will be assisted by both technical appraisals of the IT systems used by the defendant and, if necessary, international legal co-operation for the evaluation of testimonial evidence from the competent authorities in Santo Domingo,” the Vatican’s written statement said.

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VATICAN CITY
Sky News

The Vatican’s former ambassador to the Dominican Republic is to stand trial for child sexual abuse.

Jozef Wesolowski was arrested and defrocked by the Roman Catholic Church last year, after allegations emerged that he had been paying young Dominican boys for sex.

The former archbishop is also accused of keeping child abuse material on his computer.

In a statement, the Vatican said its prosecutor had cooperated with authorities from the Dominican Republic as part of its investigation.

“These serious allegations will be scrutinised by the competent judicial body which will be assisted by both technical appraisals of the IT systems used by the defendant and, if necessary, international legal cooperation for the evaluation of testimonial evidence from the competent authorities in Santo Domingo,” the statement said.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Madeleine Baran Jun 15, 2015

Nearly two years into a clergy sex abuse scandal, Archbishop John Nienstedt has resigned as head of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis.

The Vatican said Pope Francis accepted the resignations of Nienstedt, 68, and Auxiliary Bishop Lee Piche, 57. They resigned under the church law that allows bishops to resign before they retire because of illness or some other “grave” reason that makes them unfit for office.

• Nienstedt’s departure makes him only the second American bishop in the Catholic Church to resign as the result of a clergy sex abuse scandal.

• The Rev. Bernard Hebda, coadjutor archbishop of Newark, N.J., has been named temporary administrator of the archdiocese.

When Nienstedt arrived in the Twin Cities in 2007, he said his motto as archbishop would be unity, as he explained in a 2010 interview.

“I wanted to spend my time as being a bishop building up the unity of the church, building unity between churches, and then building a sense of harmony in the world,” he said.

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MINNESOTA
Gawker

Allie Jones

Pope Francis accepted the resignations of two U.S. Catholic bishops today in the wake of a child sex abuse scandal in St. Paul, Minnesota. Archbishop John C. Nienstedt and Auxillary Bishop Lee A. Piché have quit their posts after Minnesota prosecutors charged the archdiocese with the “mishandling of repeated complaints of sexual misconduct against a priest,” per The New York Times.

The charges concern the 2012 jailing of Minnesota priest Curtis Wehmeyer, who is currently serving time for sexually abusing minors and possession of child pornography. Three male victims accused Wehmeyer of preying on them during camping trips between 2008 and 2010, plying them with alcohol and drugs before sexually abusing them.

According to the AFP, Minnesota prosecutors now say they have “substantial evidence that senior Church officials failed to act on repeated warnings from parents and others that the priest was a danger to children.” While Nienstedt and Piché have not been charged, they are named in the complaint as leaders who failed to take the warnings about Wehmeyer seriously.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

By Maureen McCarthy Star Tribune JUNE 15, 2015

Archbishop John Nienstedt stepped down as head of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis Monday morning, saying, “My leadership has unfortunately drawn attention away from the good works [of the church].”

In a statement released early Monday, Nienstedt said he had submitted his resignation to Pope Francis in Rome, “and I have just received word that he has accepted it.”

Named to head the archdiocese in 2007, Nienstedt has presided over a tumultuous period for the church, most notably the still-unfolding clergy sex abuse scandal.

On June 5, the Ramsey County attorney’s office filed criminal charges against the archdiocese for “failing to protect children” from an abusive priest, marking the first time that a U.S. archdiocese has been criminally charged for such offenses. The now-former priest, Curtis Wehmeyer, is serving a prison term for abusing two boys in 2010 while he was pastor of Blessed Sacrament Church in St. Paul.

From Vatican City, the Associated Press reported Monday that Pope Francis accepted the resignations of Nienstedt and Auxiliary Bishop Lee Anthony Piché. “They resigned under the code of canon law that allows bishops to resign before they retire because of illness or some other ‘grave’ reason that makes them unfit for office.”

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

JUNE 15, 2015

Recent events that led to Archbishop John Nienstedt’s resignation Monday:

• June 5: Ramsey County attorney’s office files criminal charges against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis for “failing to protect children.” The charges stem from the archdiocese’s oversight failures regarding former priest Curtis Wehmeyer, who is now serving a prison term. It’s the first time a U.S. archdiocese has been criminally charged for such offenses.

• June 10: Pope Francis takes biggest step yet to crack down on bishops who cover up for priests who rape and molest children. He created a new tribunal section inside the Vatican to hear cases of bishops accused of failing to protect their flock.

• June 13: In an open letter to Nienstedt published in the Star Tribune, Hank Shea calls for the archbishop to resign, saying the archdiocese more than ever needs new leadership to put its legal troubles behind it and, more important, to allow genuine healing to begin, including for the victims of clergy abuse.” Shea is a former assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Minnesota and serves as a senior distinguished fellow at the University of St. Thomas School of Law.

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MINNESOTA
ABC News

Jun 15, 2015

By The Associated Press

A Minnesota organization supporting victims of clergy abuse says the resignation of Archbishop John Nienstedt from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis should lead to vigilance, not complacency.

The Vatican announced Monday that Pope Francis has accepted Nienstedt’s resignation. The archdiocese was recently charged with ignoring reports of inappropriate behavior by a priest who was later convicted of molesting two boys

Frank Meuers, the southern Minnesota leader for Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, says the pope must start defrocking clerics who cover up crimes, not just priests who commit them.

Meuers says until that happens, little will change.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release Monday, June 15

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

With this recent flurry of movement on clergy sex abuse, we suspect that Francis’ public relations advisors are trying hard to burnish his imagine prior to his US trip. But over the course of a long clerical career, Francis has ignored and concealed heinous crimes against kids and promoted or tolerated other clerics who are doing the same. One or two or three small steps doesn’t erase decades of complicity.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Jun. 15, 2015

VATICAN CITY
U.S. Archbishop John Nienstedt, a Catholic prelate in the American Midwest whose mismanagement of clergy sexual abuse cases led to his chancellor reporting the archdiocese to authorities more than two years ago, has resigned.

The move comes 10 days after prosecutors in his archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis brought criminal charges against the archdiocese “for its failure to protect children.”

The Vatican also announced Monday that Auxiliary Bishop Lee Piché, who was tasked last year with investigating allegations of sexual misconduct against Nienstedt himself, would resign in a rare double move.

The Vatican announced the two resignations in a note in its daily news bulletin Monday.

Pope Francis has appointed Newark, N.J., Coadjutor Archbishop Bernard Hebda to serve as the apostolic administrator of the Minnesota archdiocese until appointment of a new residential archbishop. Hebda, a canon and civil lawyer, had served as the bishop of a diocese in Michigan.

In a statement released by the Minnesota archdiocese Monday, Nienstedt said he had resigned his post “in order to give the Archdiocese a new beginning amidst the many challenges we face.”

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

By Inés San Martín
Vatican correspondent June 15, 2015

ROME — Archbishop John Nienstedt and one of his top deputies have resigned their offices amid criminal charges against the Archdiocese of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, the Vatican announced Monday.

Nienstedt and Auxiliary Bishop Lee Anthony Piche resigned under the code of Church law that allows bishops to resign before they retire, either because of illness or some other “grave reason” that makes them unfit for office.

Earlier this month, prosecutors charged the archdiocese as a corporation for having ignored repeated reports of inappropriate behavior by a priest who was later convicted of molesting two boys.

The charges were filed against the archdiocese and no individual was named in the indictment.

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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Dominican Today

Santo Domingo.– The Vatican’s former ambassador to the Dominican Republic has been indicted on charges he sexually abused young boys in the country and will stand trial next month in a Vatican court.

In a statement, the Holy See said Jozef Wesolowski will have his first hearing July 11, the first case of its kind to be brought before a Vatican court.

The Polish cleric is accused of possession of child pornography in Rome in 2013-14 and the sexual abuse of minors during his 2008-13 spell as the Church’s representative in the Dominican Republic.

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VATICAN CITY
Religion News Service

Rosie Scammell | June 15, 2015

VATICAN CITY (RNS) The Vatican on Monday (June 15) announced its former ambassador to the Dominican Republic, Jozef Wesolowski, would stand trial on charges he paid for sex with children as part of a landmark trial.

Wesolowski, who had the title archbishop during his five-year post in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic capital, was recalled to the Vatican in 2013. He was later first person to be arrested inside the Vatican on child abuse charges.

He also faces charges of possessing child pornography during his stay at the Holy See and ahead of his arrest in September 2014, the Vatican said in a statement.

The decision to put Wesolowski on trial was announced on Monday (June 15), nine days after a Vatican prosecutor requested the ex-archbishop be indicted. The first hearing is scheduled to take place within the Vatican walls on July 11.

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VATICAN CITY
CNN

By Delia Gallagher

(CNN)The Pope’s former ambassador to the Dominican Republic, Jozef Wesolowski, is accused of offenses related to child abuse and will be tried at the Vatican beginning on July 11, the Vatican said Monday.

Wesolowski, 66, is the highest-ranking former Vatican official to be arrested for allegations related to the sexual abuse of minors and the first to be tried on such charges at the Vatican.

Wesolowski is accused of possession of child pornography as well as offenses related to the sexual abuse of minors during his time as papal nuncio to the Dominican Republic.

Before arriving in the Dominican Republic in 2008, Wesolowski was nuncio to Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. He began his career as a priest in Krakow, Poland, in 1972.

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VATICAN CITY
NPR

JUNE 15, 2015

EYDER PERALTA

A Vatican prosecutor has indicted the Holy See’s former ambassador to the Dominican Republic on charges that he sexually abused minors.

Jozef Wesolowski is the first to face such charges. NPR’s Sylvia Poggioli reports the trial will begin July 11 at a Vatican court. She filed this report for our Newscast unit:

“Wesolowski was called back to the Vatican in 2013 after reports circulated in Santo Domingo that he had allegedly paid shoeshine boys to masturbate.

“Wesolowski, who was ordained a bishop in 2000, has since been defrocked and put under house arrest inside Vatican City — becoming the first person arrested in the vatican on charges of pedophilia. A Vatican statement said the alleged crimes committed in the Dominican Republic were based on a police investigation there.

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VATICAN CITY
ABC News (Australia)

A former papal ambassador to the Dominican Republic will be tried for paedophilia next month in the first case of its kind to be brought before a Vatican court.

The Vatican announced on Monday, the first hearing in the trial of Jozef Wesolowski had been scheduled for July 11 this year.

The Polish cleric is accused of possession of child pornography in Rome in 2013-14 and the sexual abuse of minors during his 2008-13 spell as the church’s representative in the Dominican Republic.

The Vatican said allegations of crimes committed in the Dominican Republic were based on an investigation by police there.

The others were based on a Vatican investigation that found child pornography on his computer after he was arrested last September.

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VATICAN CITY
The New York Times

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
JUNE 15, 2015

The Vatican announced on Monday that in July it would open a trial of its former ambassador to the Dominican Republic on charges of sexually abusing boys while serving in the Caribbean and of possessing child pornography after he was sent back to Rome in 2013.

The case of the former archbishop, Jozef Wesolowski, caused an international scandal when it was learned that the Vatican had secretly recalled him from Santo Domingo to Rome before Dominican officials could investigate, saying that he could not be tried in the Dominican Republic because he had diplomatic immunity.

Mr. Wesolowski came to the attention of the Dominican authorities after a television journalist aired an investigation reporting that the ambassador had a habit of picking up shoeshine boys along the waterfront and taking them to secluded spots. Some boys said he gave them money to molest them.

The former ambassador was defrocked by the Vatican in June 2014 and has been awaiting a criminal trial by the Vatican since then. It will be the first trial on sexual abuse charges held under new rules for criminal procedures put in place by Pope Francis. It was not known until Monday that the Vatican would also bring child pornography charges against the former ambassador.

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CIUDAD DEL VATICANO
Teinteresa

EUROPA PRESS, ROMA

El Papa ha forzado la dimisión anticipada del arzobispo de la ciudad norteamericana de Saint Paul y Minneapolis, John Clayton Nienstedt, así como de su obispo auxiliar, Lee Anthony Piché. Ambos habrían supuestamente encubierto a un sacerdote que cometió abusos sexuales que abusaba de menores entre 2010 y 2011 y ahora está cumpliendo una condena de cinco años de cárcel.

Ambos han dimitido diez días después de que el fiscal del condado de Ramsey, John Choi, imputara a la diócesis negligencia grave en protección de menores. Francisco ha designado como administrador de la diócesis al obispo coadjutor de Newark, según ha informado el Vaticano.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

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

– accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, U.S.A., presented by Archbishop John C. Nienstedt, in accordance with canon 401 para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law. He has appointed Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda, coadjutor of Newark, U.S.A., as apostolic administrator “sede vacante” of the Saint Paul and Minneapolis.

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release Monday, June 15

Statement by Frank Meuers, Southern Minnesota SNAP Leader, ( frankameuers@gmail.com 952-334-5180 )

Finally, more than a year and a half after the breaking of the story of widespread abuse and cover up in the St. Paul/Minneapolis Diocese, Archbishop John Neinstedt has finally resigned. This is a tiny but belated step forward.

After centuries of abuse and cover up done in secrecy, and decades of abuse and cover up done somewhat in public, evidently one pope has finally seen fit to oust one archbishop for complicity in clergy sex crimes. That’s encouraging. But it’s only a very tiny drop of reform in an enormous bucket of horror.

Neinstedt’s departure will, in the short term, make some adults happier. By itself, it won’t, in the long term, make many kids safer.

Keep in mind that dozens of St. Paul/Minneapolis Archdiocese Catholic employees are concealing or have concealed clergy sex crimes. So it’s irresponsible for anyone to get complacent. Protecting predators and endangering kids is a deeply-rooted and long-standing pattern in the Catholic hierarchy. It didn’t start with one man and won’t stop with one man. There were dozens of church staff who could and should have stopped many of these abusers’ crimes by simply calling 911. But they protected themselves and their jobs by staying silent. They too should be ousted by the Vatican.

Virtually no St. Paul/Minneapolis Catholic employee spoke up on behalf of brave whistleblowers like Jennifer Hasselberger or joined us to challenge Neinstedt for keeping Fr. Keating, Fr. Wehmeyer, and others in ministry.

The scandal in Minnesota goes far beyond a local crisis. It’s crucial to remember that basically no Catholic supervisors have been punished, worldwide, for enabling and hiding horrific clergy sex crimes. The Pope must start defrocking clerics who cover up sex crimes (like Nienstedt), not just clerics who commit them (like Wehmeyer). Until that happens, little will change.

So to us it’s clear: despite new promises, pledges, panels, protocols and procedures – and new scandals – in the Minnesota dioceses, virtually no one in the church hierarchy is really reforming.

There are now, according to BishopAccountability.org, fifty-five publicly accused Twin Cities area child molesting clerics/staff. That’s a fraction of the real total. Neinstedt alone did not enable, ignore and conceal their crimes. Sadly, he has had and still has plenty of help continuing the cover ups.

So vigilance, not complacency, is needed now. It’s crucial that those who see, suspect or suffer clergy sex crimes and cover ups in the Twin Cities, or anywhere, keep finding the strength to get help, protect kids, call police, expose wrongdoers, deter wrongdoing, and start healing.

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release Monday, June 15

Statement by Barbara Dorris, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

Though he has resigned, we still believe Neinstedt should be punished for enabling a predator to hurt kids.

We hope these Vatican panels will quickly take up the Neinstedt case so that cover-ups will be deterred and kids will be safer.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Bob Collins June 15, 2015

I’ll be honest with you: As good and thorough as the MPR investigation was into clergy abuse at the now-bankrupt Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the coverup therein, I never thought Archbishop John Nienstedt would fall. The church has been too determined not to be taken down for its misdeeds.

That, of course, changed today when Nienstedt resigned, we suspect under pressure from a pope who has shown determination to address the scandals in his church.

“The Catholic Church is not our Church, but Christ’s Church, and we are merely stewards for a time,” Nienstedt said. “My leadership has unfortunately drawn attention away from the good works of His Church and those who perform them. Thus, my decision to step down.”

The resignation comes just a few days after Pope Francis issued new standards of accountability for bishops.

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MINNESOTA
Towleroad

John Nienstedt, the Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis, has resigned after prosecutors filed criminal charges against the Twin Cities’ archdiocese this month for its role in “failing to protect children” from predatory priests.

Nienstedt, who spearheaded an anti-gay DVD mailer campaign in 2010, told the mother of a gay son that she must reject him or risk burning in hell, and claimed Satan is behind same-sex marriage, was himself accused of inappropriately touching an underage male back in 2013.

The Guardian reports:

The Vatican said on Monday that Pope Francis accepted the resignations of Archbishop John Nienstedt and auxiliary bishop Lee Anthony Piche. They resigned under the code of canon law that allows bishops to resign before they retire because of illness or some other “grave” reason that makes them unfit for office.

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MINNESOTA
International Business Times

By Sneha Shankar

Archbishop John Nienstedt and Auxiliary Bishop Lee Anthony Piche from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in Minnesota resigned their posts Monday after the archdiocese was charged by prosecutors of not being able to protect children from pedophile acts by priests.

Both officials resigned under the canon law that allows bishops to resign before they retire due to a “grave” reason or an illness that would make them unfit to work, the Associated Press reported. The archdiocese was charged earlier this month for mishandling repeated complaints about sex abuse by clergy but the two bishops were not charged individually.

The resignations come just days after Pope Francis approved a new high-level body at the Vatican that will hold accountable those bishops who were unable to deal with abusers. While advocates for the victims say that it is a big step by the Vatican, very few bishops have left their posts, according to the Washington Post.

“In order to give the Archdiocese a new beginning amidst the many challenges we face, I have submitted my resignation as Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis to our Holy Father, Pope Francis, and I have just received word that he has accepted it,” Nienstedt said, in a statement, according to the Post, adding: “My leadership has unfortunately drawn attention away from the good works of His Church and those who perform them.”

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MINNESOTA
CNN

By Michael Pearson, CNN

(CNN)Archbishop John C. Nienstedt and his top deputy resigned Monday as the top Catholic officials in St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota, in the wake of criminal sex abuse charges against the archdiocese.

In a statement, Nienstedt said he was resigning “to give the Archdiocese a new beginning amidst the many challenges we face.”

Auxiliary Bishop Lee Piche also resigned.

“The people of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis need healing and hope. I was getting in the way of that, and so I had to resign,” Piche said in a statement.

On June 5, Ramsey County Attorney John Choi filed six criminal charges against the archdiocese accusing it of encouraging, causing or contributing to the sexual abuse of three victims by a priest in 2010 and 2011.

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VATICAN CITY
Seattle PI

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The embattled archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis and a deputy bishop resigned Monday after prosecutors there charged the archdiocese with having failed to protect children from unspeakable harm from a pedophile priest.

The Vatican said Pope Francis accepted the resignations of Archbishop John Nienstedt and Auxiliary Bishop Lee Anthony Piche. They resigned under the code of canon law that allows bishops to resign before they retire because of illness or some other “grave” reason that makes them unfit for office.

Earlier this month, prosecutors charged the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis as a corporation of having “turned a blind eye” to repeated reports of inappropriate behavior by a priest who was later convicted of molesting two boys. No individual was named in the complaint.

The resignations came on the same day that the Vatican announced it was putting its former ambassador to the Dominican Republic, Jozef Wesolowski, on trial in a Vatican court on charges he sexually abused boys in the Caribbean country and possessed child pornography. Wesolowski, who has already been defrocked after being convicted in a canon law court, now faces possible jail time if convicted by the criminal tribunal of the Vatican City State.

The charges against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis came after a diocesan canon lawyer-turned-whistleblower alleged widespread cover-up of clergy sex misconduct in the archdiocese, saying archbishops and their top staff lied to the public and ignored the U.S. bishops’ pledge to have no tolerance of priests who abuse.

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MINNESOTA
New Zealand Herald

A critic of Archbishop John Nienstedt says his resignation from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis was necessary because the sex abuse scandal there has become overwhelming.

The Rev. Michael Tegeder of St. Francis Cabrini Church in Minneapolis has been calling for Nienstedt’s resignation for two years. The Vatican said Monday that Pope Francis has accepted Nienstedt’s resignation along with that of Auxiliary Bishop Lee Anthony Piche.

The archdiocese was recently charged with ignoring reports of inappropriate behavior by a priest who was later convicted of molesting two boys.

Tegeder says Nienstedt has undermined the archdiocese and the safety of its children.

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MINNESOTA
Washington Times

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – A longtime critic of Archbishop John Nienstedt says he hopes parishioners in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis will see the archbishop’s resignation as a sign of hope that change is possible.

The Vatican said Monday that Pope Francis has accepted Nienstedt’s resignation along with that of Auxiliary Bishop Lee Anthony Piche (pish-AY’). The archdiocese was recently charged with ignoring reports of inappropriate behavior by a priest who was later convicted of molesting two boys.

For the past two years, Rev. Michael Tegeder, of St. Francis Cabrini Church in Minneapolis, has called for Nienstedt to step down at various meetings with archdiocesan priests. Tegeder says it’s time to pick up the pieces, find a new direction and begin to rebuild credibility.

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VATICAN CITY
BBC News

The Vatican is to put its former envoy to the Dominican Republic, Jozef Wesolowski, on trial on child sex abuse and child pornography charges.

Pope Francis has also accepted the resignations of a US archbishop and his deputy, accused in Minnesota of having ignored a priest’s child abuse.

Jozef Wesolowski is accused of having sexually abused children in the Dominican Republic in 2008-2013. He is under house arrest in the Vatican.

The trial is to begin on 11 July.

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – A Vatican prosecutor on Monday ordered a former Roman Catholic archbishop accused of paying for sex with children when he was a papal ambassador in the Dominican Republic and of possessing child pornographic material to stand trial.

Jozef Wesolowski, a Pole who had been defrocked, last year became the first person to be arrested inside the Vatican on paedophilia charges.

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VATICAN CITY
Bolletino

Communiqué: former nuncio Józef Wesołowski committed to trial

The President of the Tribunal of Vatican City State, Professor Giuseppe Dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto, by decree of 6 June 2015 in response to the request submitted by the Office of the Promoter of Justice, has ordered the trial of the former apostolic nuncio to Dominican Republic, Józef Wesołowski. The first hearing of the trial is scheduled for 11 July 2015. The ex-prelate is accused of a number of offences committed both during his stay in Rome from August 2013 until the moment of his arrest (on 22 September 2014) and in the period he spent in the Dominican Republic, during the five years in which he held the office of apostolic nuncio (he was appointed as nuncio to the Dominican Republic on 24 January 2008 and apostolic delegate to Puerto Rico, offices from which he resigned on 21 August 2013).

With regard to the period spent in Rome, the nuncio is charged with the offence of possession of child pornography under Law VIII of 2013 introduced by Pope Francis. The allegations referring to the preceding period are based on evidence transmitted by the judicial authorities of Santo Domingo in relation to the sexual abuse of minors.

These serious allegations will be scrutinised by the competent judicial body which will be assisted by both technical appraisals of the IT systems used by the defendant and, if necessary, international legal cooperation for the evaluation of testimonial evidence from the competent authorities in Santo Domingo. This will be a delicate and detailed procedure, requiring the most careful observations and insights from all parties involved in the trial.

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VATICAN CITY
Straits Times

VATICAN CITY (AFP) – A former papal ambassador to the Dominican Republic will be tried for paedophilia next month, in the first case of its kind to be brought before a Vatican court.

The first hearing in the trial of Jozef Wesolowski has been scheduled for July 11, 2015, the Vatican announced on Monday. The Polish cleric is accused of possession of child pornography in Rome in 2013-2914 and the sexual abuse of minors during his 2008-2013 spell as the Church’s representative in the Dominican Republic.

Separately, Pope Francis accepted the resignations of two United States bishops accused of failing to respond appropriately to allegations of sex abuse against a priest in the diocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, the Vatican announced on Monday.

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VATICAN CITY
Seattle PI

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican’s former ambassador to the Dominican Republic has been charged with sexually abusing young boys in the Caribbean country and having child pornography on his computer and will stand trial next month in a Vatican court.

In a statement, the Holy See said Jozef Wesolowski will have his first hearing July 11.

The Holy See recalled Wesolowski in 2013 after rumors surfaced in Santo Domingo that he allegedly paid shoeshine boys to masturbate. Wesolowski has since been defrocked and placed under modified house arrest inside Vatican City pending a decision by the Vatican criminal court on whether to indict him.

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MINNESOTA
WDAZ

By KSTP Today at 5:46 a.m.

Archbishop John Nienstedt has resigned from the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis.

Nienstedt says he submitted his resignation as archbishop to Pope Francis and has received word that he has accepted it.

Nienstedt has faced growing calls to step down in the wake of recent sexual abuse cases. Criminal charges were announced against the archdiocese earlier this month.

“I leave with a clear conscience knowing that my team and I have put in place solid protocols to ensure the protection of minors and vulnerable adults,” Nienstedt said in a statement. “I ask for continued prayers for the well-being of this Archdiocese and its future leaders. I also ask for your continued prayers for me.”

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MINNESOTA
USA Today

Jane Onyanga-Omara, USA TODAY

Corrections & Clarifications: A previous version of this story misstated the archdiocese of Archbishop John Nienstedt. The erroneous information was provided by the Associated Press.

The archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis and a deputy bishop have resigned after the archdiocese was charged with with having failed to protect children from a pedophile priest.

The Vatican said Monday that Pope Francis accepted the resignations of Archbishop John Nienstedt and Auxiliary Bishop Lee Anthony Piche.

The two resigned under the code of canon law that allows bishops to resign before they retire because of illness or some other “grave” reason that makes them unfit for office.

Earlier this month, prosecutors charged the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis as a corporation of having “turned a blind eye” to repeated reports of inappropriate behavior by a priest who was later convicted of molesting two boys.

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MINNESOTA
Herald Sun (Australia)

AAP

THE archbishop of St Paul, Minnesota, and a deputy bishop have resigned after prosecutors there charged the archdiocese with having failed to protect children from unspeakable harm from a pedophile priest.

THE Vatican said on Monday that Pope Francis had accepted the resignations of Archbishop John Nienstedt and Auxiliary Bishop Lee Anthony Piche.

They resigned under the code of canon law that allows bishops to resign before they retire because of illness or some other “grave” reason that makes them unfit for office.

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MINNESOTA
Daily Mail (UK)

Breaking news: Archbishop of St. Paul, Minnesota, resigns amid sex abuse cover-up claims against Archdiocese

By KATE PICKLES FOR MAILONLINE

The Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis in Minnesota has resigned following claims of a sex-abuse cover-up.

Archbishop John Nienstedt and deputy bishop Lee Anthony Piche submitted their resignations to Pope Francis today, a release said.

They resigned under the code of canon law that allows bishops to resign before they retire because of illness or some other ‘grave’ reason that makes them unfit for office.

Earlier this month, prosecutors charged the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis as a corporation of having ‘turned a blind eye’ to repeated reports of inappropriate behavior by a priest who was later convicted of molesting two boys. No individual was named in the indictment.

In his letter to Pope Francis, the Archbishop says his leadership became a distraction from the good works of the church following investigations into alleged priest sex abuse.

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UNITED STATES
Washington Post

By Abby Ohlheiser and Michelle Boorstein June 15

Just days after his archdiocese was charged by prosecutors over its handling of sexual abuse claims against a priest, Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis John C. Nienstedt resigned on Monday.

“In order to give the Archdiocese a new beginning amidst the many challenges we face, I have submitted my resignation as Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis to our Holy Father, Pope Francis, and I have just received word that he has accepted it,” Nienstedt said in a statement posted to the archdiocese’s website. “My leadership has unfortunately drawn attention away from the good works of His Church and those who perform them. Thus, my decision to step down.”

He added: “I leave with a clear conscience knowing that my team and I have put in place solid protocols to ensure the protection of minors and vulnerable adults.”

Bishop Lee A. Piché, Auxiliary Bishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, also resigned on Monday. The Most Rev. Bernard A. Hebda will serve as Apostolic Administrator of the archdiocese until Pope Francis appoints a new Archbishop.

Ten days ago, Minnesota prosecutors charged the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis over its handling of clergy abuse claims, saying church leaders failed to protect children from unspeakable harm and “turned a blind eye” to repeated reports of inappropriate behavior by a priest who was later convicted of molesting two boys, the Associated Press reported. …

Anne Barrett Doyle of BishopAccountability.org, which tracks abuse cases, said Monday that the Minneapolis clerics were “low-hanging fruit” and that Pope Francis must clarify why they left office.

“The last three popes have removed bishops for this,” she said. “But no one has made an explicit statement saying this is the reason. That kind of confirmation in light of last week’s [announcement about the new tribunal] is really important. We can’t continue to have popes staying mum when bishops are removed.”

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MINNESOTA
The New York Times

The archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis and a deputy bishop resigned Monday after prosecutors recently charged the archdiocese with having failed to protect youths from the abuse at the hands of pedophile priests.

In statements released Monday morning, the archbishop, John C. Nienstedt, and the auxiliary bishop, Lee A Piché, said they were resigning to help the archdiocese heal.

“My leadership has unfortunately drawn attention away from the good works of His Church and those who perform them,” Archbishop Nienstedt said. “Thus, my decision to step down.”

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MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Date: Monday, June 15, 2015

Source: Tom Halden, Director of Communications

From Archbishop John C. Nienstedt, Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

In order to give the Archdiocese a new beginning amidst the many challenges we face, I have submitted my resignation as Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis to our Holy Father, Pope Francis, and I have just received word that he has accepted it. The Catholic Church is not our Church, but Christ’s Church, and we are merely stewards for a time. My leadership has unfortunately drawn attention away from the good works of His Church and those who perform them. Thus, my decision to step down.

It has been my privilege the last seven years to serve this local Church. I have come to appreciate deeply the vitality of the 187 parishes that make up the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. I am grateful for the support I have received from priests, deacons, religious men and women and lay leaders, especially those who have collaborated with me in the oversight of this local Church.

I leave with a clear conscience knowing that my team and I have put in place solid protocols to ensure the protection of minors and vulnerable adults.

I ask for continued prayers for the well-being of this Archdiocese and its future leaders. I also ask for your continued prayers for me.

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MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Date: Monday, June 15, 2015

Source: Tom Halden, Director of Communications

From Bishop Lee A. Piché, Auxiliary Bishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

The people of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis need healing and hope. I was getting in the way of that, and so I had to resign.

I submitted my resignation willingly, after consultation with others in and outside the Archdiocese.

It has been a privilege to serve this local Church and I will continue to hold everyone in the Archdiocese in my prayers.

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MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Date: Monday, June 15, 2015

Source: Tom Halden, Director of Communications

From Most Rev. Bernard A. Hebda, Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I am humbled by Pope Francis’ decision to appoint me to serve as Apostolic Administrator for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. I am grateful for his confidence and I look forward to working with Auxiliary Bishop Andrew Cozzens and the leadership of the Archdiocese. I pray that I will be able to be of some service to you, the priests and faithful of the Archdiocese, as you prepare for the appointment of a new Archbishop.

Fondly recalling my years as a Bishop in Northern Michigan, where I first came to know the vibrancy of the faith shared by Catholics of the upper Midwest, I am hopeful that there will be opportunities to meet many of you in the weeks ahead. Mindful of Pope Francis’ challenge to bishops to be true shepherds who walk in the midst of the flock to the point of developing “ears open to listening to the voice of the sheep entrusted to their care”, it is my intention to be as available as possible, while still fulfilling my responsibilities as the Coadjutor Archbishop of Newark. As the Universal Church prepares to embark on a Year of Mercy, I look forward to getting to know this local Church and experiencing in a new context the marvelous ways in which the Lord works through His people to make His grace and healing presence known and felt, even in the most challenging of times.

Our loving God frequently finds ways to remind us that even those who exercise leadership in the Church do so as laborers and not as the Master Builder: the Church is not ours but Christ’s. While it is always true that we are merely stewards for a time in a vineyard that is not our own, the role of an Apostolic Administrator is particularly temporary. The law of the Church reminds us that an Administrator is not to introduce change, but rather to facilitate the smooth continuation of the ordinary and essential activities of the Church, while advancing those positive initiatives to which the Archdiocese is already committed. It is my hope that I might be able to be faithful to that vision so that whenever a new Archbishop is appointed, he will find in this local Church a vibrant community of missionary disciples that is growing in its knowledge of the love of Jesus and in its shared commitment to the Gospel.

For this to happen, I realize that I will need the prayers and support of you, the priests, deacons, religious, and laity of the Archdiocese. In this time of transition, please join me in asking for the intercession of Our Lady of Mercy. May she not only seek God’s blessings for those who have given themselves to the service of this local Church in the past, but also draw us ever closer to the Heart of her Son so that we might more perfectly radiate His healing love in the days to come.
Sincerely in Christ,

Most Rev. Bernard A. Hebda
Apostolic Administrator
Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

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MINNESOTA
CBS Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Twin Cities Archbishop John Nienstedt is stepping down.

In a statement, posted to the Archdiocese’s website, Nienstedt said he has submitted his resignation in order to give the Archdiocese a “new beginning amidst the many challenges we face.”

He goes on to say that his leadership has drawn attention away from the church.

As WCCO has been following for the past three years, dozens of clergy members have been accused of sexual abuse.

Nienstedt himself had even been accused of having inappropriate contact with a boy. He was cleared.

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VATICAN CITY
The Daily Star (Lebanon)

Agence France Presse

VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of two US bishops accused of failing to respond appropriately to allegations of sex abuse against a priest in the diocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, the Vatican announced on Monday.

Archbishop John Clayton Nienstedt and Auxiliary Bishop Lee Anthony Piche resigned after the diocese was charged by U.S. authorities of failing to protect minors in relation to a parish priest who was jailed for child abuse.

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CITTA’ DEL VATICANO
Bolletino

Il Santo Padre ha accettato la rinuncia al governo pastorale dell’arcidiocesi di Saint Paul and Minneapolis (U.S.A.), presentata da S.E. Mons. John Clayton Nienstedt, in conformità al canone 401 §2 del Codice di Diritto Canonico.

Il Papa ha nominato Amministratore Apostolico “sede vacante” dell’arcidiocesi di Saint Paul and Minneapolis S.E. Mons. Bernard Anthony Hebda, Arcivescovo Coadiutore di Newark.

[01027-IT.02]

Rinuncia di Ausiliare dell’Arcidiocesi di Saint Paul and Minneapolis (U.S.A.)

Il Santo Padre ha accettato la rinuncia all’ufficio di Ausiliare dell’arcidiocesi di Saint Paul and Minneapolis (U.S.A.), presentata da S.E. Mons. Lee Anthony Piché, in conformità ai canoni 411 e 401 §2 del Codice di Diritto Canonico.

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VATICAN CITY
ABC News

VATICAN CITY — Jun 15, 2015
By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press

The archbishop of St. Paul, Minnesota, and a deputy bishop resigned Monday after prosecutors there charged the archdiocese with having failed to protect children from unspeakable harm from a pedophile priest.

The Vatican said Pope Francis accepted the resignations of Archbishop John Nienstedt and Auxiliary Bishop Lee Anthony Piche. They resigned under the code of canon law that allows bishops to resign before they retire because of illness or some other “grave” reason that makes them unfit for office.

Earlier this month, prosecutors charged the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis as a corporation of having “turned a blind eye” to repeated reports of inappropriate behavior by a priest who was later convicted of molesting two boys. No individual was named in the indictment.

The resignations came just days after Pope Francis approved the creation of a new tribunal inside the Vatican to hear cases of bishops who failed to protect children from sexually abusive priests. Francis’ decision followed years of criticism that the Vatican had never held bishops accountable for having ignored warnings about abusive priests and simply moved them from parish to parish rather than report them to police or remove them from ministry.

In April, Francis accepted the resignation of U.S. bishop Robert Finn, who had been convicted in a U.S. court of failing to report a suspected child abuser.

The criminal charges against the archdiocese stem from its handling of Curtis Wehmeyer, a former priest at Church of the Blessed Sacrament in St. Paul, who is serving a five-year prison sentence for molesting two boys and faces prosecution involving a third boy in Wisconsin.

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UNITED KINGDOM
David Hencke

The extraordinary disclosure reported on the Exaro website and in The Sunday Times today that the Goddard Judicial inquiry into child sexual abuse will recruit a record number of in-house QCs and lawyers raises more than just a few eyebrows.

It appears that Ben Emmerson, the QC who survived the cull that abolished the independent panel, will be interviewing for 20 more barristers – ten of them QC’s – this month This far outstrips the number employed for the Leveson inquiry into the press or the very long running Saville Inquiry into the Northern Ireland ” Bloody Sunday ” atrocity.

It is not surprising that survivors – already excluded from the panel and any meaningful input into the proceedings – have reacted with fury. If you also take into account that every organisation from the police to local government, the security services to Whitehall and ministers, would want to bring along their own QC at public expense, you can see where the phrase ” lawyer fest” comes from.

And you have to add that most of the remaining shrunk panel are also lawyers or connected to the law. The remaining people are Alexis Jay, author of the report last year on CSA in Rotherham; Drusilla Sharpling, barrister and former senior prosecutor; Malcolm Evans, professor of public international law; and Ivor Frank, barrister and advisor to the Home Office..Only Alexis Jay is not connected to the law.

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CANADA
CBC News

By Jason Proctor, CBC News

Nearly three years after reporter Laura Robinson published allegations that former Vancouver Olympics CEO John Furlong had abused students at a Burns Lake, B.C., Catholic school in the late ’60s, the two are set to face off in court this week.

It’s one of the most hotly anticipated civil trials in British Columbia.

But it’s Robinson suing Furlong for defamation — not the other way around.

“It is relatively rare for a journalist to sue someone for an attack on their reputation,” says David Crerar, a defamation expert with Borden, Ladner, Gervais who is not involved with the case.

“So that in itself is interesting: the fact a journalist is a claimant rather than a defendant in a lawsuit.”

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IRELAND
The Guardian

When Catherine Corless walked through a housing estate in Tuam, County Galway, with Judge Yvonne Murphy, head of the government Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes, she pointed to the playground.

This,” said Corless, “is where I think some bodies are buried.”

It is a year since the story of what took place here broke. What became the Tuam Babies scandal, when the headline of “800 Children Dumped in Septic Tank” went around the world. It was Corless who told the media. She was later upset by inaccuracies – she never suggested all the bodies were in a septic tank or that any had been dumped. Researching the St Mary’s Home for unmarried mothers for a local history annual, Corless obtained death certificates for 796 children who died at the Tuam home, run by the Bon Secours Sisters on behalf of Galway County Council from 1925 to 1961. But there were only official burial records for two children.

A fiercely debated, long-delayed investigation into Ireland’s Catholic-run institutions said priests and nuns terrorised thousands of boys and girls in workhouse-style schools for decades – a 2,600-page report in 2009 cited reports of abuse from former students sent to more than 250 church-run, mostly residential institutions.

Corless discovered that in 1975 two boys, playing in wasteland at the former home site, fell into a tank containing children’s skeletons – no one knows how many. Local residents erected a little grotto. “Most of the deceased were newborns up to two years old,” says Corless. Were these some of the missing 794 children? Not all would have fit into a septic tank. She interviewed elderly residents who had witnessed night time burials from their upstairs windows in houses that overlooked the home’s eight foot walls. “I only go by maps and records,” says Corless, “that’s why I think the playground is where the bodies are most likely to be.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Mail on Sunday

The paedophile school inspector: Predator facing jail after downloading dozens of child abuse videos and grooming teenage boy online

By Simon Walters and Martin Beckford for The Mail on Sunday

A top schools inspector is facing jail for downloading dozens of child-abuse videos and grooming a teenage boy online, it can be revealed.

Adam Higgins was caught by police with almost 100 sick images of assaults on children on his home computer. They discovered he had also propositioned an under-15-year-old using a webcam.

After the 48-year-old pleaded guilty in court last week, education watchdog Ofsted contacted dozens of horrified headteachers to admit that a paedophile had visited their schools.

Among the schools he inspected was a £14,000-a-year prep school once attended by Prince Charles….

He had taught in schools for decades before becoming an inspector. In 2000 he was headmaster of St Paulinus Church of England primary school in Crayford, South-East London, then in charge of Lessness Heath primary school in Belvedere in Kent until 2007.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic World Report

June 14, 2015

Dr. Adam A. J. DeVille

The news that Pope Francis is establishing a new tribunal within the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to discipline bishops over their handling of sexual offenses is very welcome news indeed. This, I happily confess, is one of several reforms to ecclesial structures I did not expect to see under this pope. I mistakenly pegged Francis early on as having little or no interest in ecclesiology.

Like many academics, I assumed that those who have not written some learned treatise about a particular topic are unlikely to take action on it. Francis has—as far as I know—never written anything about ecclesiology. Rather, it was Pope Benedict XVI who had been writing extensively on changes to Catholic ecclesial structures for forty years at the time of his election, and I fully expected to see many of those changes implemented by him as pope. But apart from the abortive decision in 2006 to abandon the title “Patriarch of the West,” very little happened. When he retired in 2013, I despaired that we had lost our best chance for this and other important reforms.

But it is another common academic and bureaucratic mistake to assume that writing about something is always the precursor to taking action on it. Francis, in fact, has repeatedly shown that one can act decisively and well without having written much if anything beforehand about matters. There are, so far, several actions he has taken in this short pontificate dealing with reform of ecclesial structures, but the most recent one is, to date, the most significant.

The creation of disciplinary mechanisms for bishops who failed in their duty to deal with sexual abuse is something I have written and lectured about in several places for nearly a decade now. In earlier works I attempted to show both that the synodal structures of the Orthodox Churches may have something to teach Catholics in this regard and, further, that extra-papal processes of election, discipline, and deposition of bad bishops are in fact anchored in centuries of Catholic history—as various historians such as Brian Daley, I.S. Robinson, Eamon Duffy, and Kathleen Cushing have shown.

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VIRGINIA/TEXAS
The Roanoke Times

Geronimo Aguilar, the former South Richmond pastor who once commanded huge audiences with his charismatic sermons, will be in a Texas courtroom this week, fighting to avoid life in prison.

Jury selection is set to start Monday for Aguilar, 45, who is accused in Tarrant County Court in Fort Worth, Texas, of sexually abusing an 11-year-old girl and her 13-year-old sister in the 1990s.

Just three years ago, Aguilar was riding high, preaching to packed crowds at the Richmond Outreach Center and leading a house of worship with millions of dollars in assets, including about 10 nonprofit organizations — including a real estate foundation, cafe, thrift store, fitness center, child care center and clothing line, plus a tutoring company in Florida.

The ROC was one of the area’s biggest churches. It catered to former drug users and the alienated but also attracted the well-heeled and the middle class. On Friday, it officially changed its name to Celebration Church and Outreach Ministry and announced the hiring of a minister experienced at turning around troubled churches.

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TEXAS
WRIC

By Emily Satchell
Published: June 15, 2015

TARRANT COUNTY, Texas (WRIC) — The former head of a mega church in Richmond is heading to court in Texas today to face eight charges of sexual assault on two young girls.

More than two years after he was charged, the former head of the ROC Church (now known as the Celebration Church and Outreach Ministry), Pastor Geronimo Aguilar, will have his day in court today. 8News investigator Kerri O’Brien was first to break the allegations of sexual abuse which led to a police investigation and Aguilars’ arrest.

The victims, now in their 30’s, say the abuse started when Aguilar was their youth pastor in Texas back in the 1990’s.

“I was about 12 when we started having sex,” one of the victims involved in the case tells 8News.

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TEXAS
WTVR

BY WEB STAFF AND JOE ST. GEORGE

TARRANT COUNTY, Texas — Jury selection is slated to begin Monday in Texas for the trial of Georinmo Aguilar, the former pastor at The Richmond Outreach Center (ROC) church in Richmond who was accused of sexually assaulting two sisters in the 1990s. While hundreds of people are on the witness list for the trial, which could last two weeks, supporters are standing by the man known as “Pastor G.”

For Shawanda Allen, who worshiped at The ROC, the allegations are still hard to believe.

“Pastor G of all people he was like the nicest person I ever met,” Allen said. “It shocked me.”

For the last two years Allen and others have waited for the trial which will see Aguilar tried for 12 counts of sexual abuse. Prosecutors allege Aguilar had sex with an 11 and 13-year-old girl repeatedly — including in church vans — when he was living with them as a minister near Fort Worth in the 1990s.

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MASSACHUSETTS
The Independent (UK)

Parishioners in Massachusetts vow to continue their 11-year sit-in and save their church from closure

DAVID USBORNE SCITUATE Sunday 14 June 2015

It was bad enough that the Archdiocese of Boston had included their church, with its full pews and healthy finances, among the 70 it was eliminating in the name of streamlining. Worse was how, when the moment came, they broke a promise to let the parishioners stay put for just a few extra days. To say goodbye.

“They came in under the cover of darkness, they ransacked the place and then they changed the locks,” parishioner Jon Rogers recalled, pointing to outlines on the brick walls of the main sanctuary where statues used to watch over the congregation. “The Blessed Mother was there, and Joseph over here, both gone.”

It’s hard to believe, even for him, that this was back in October 2004. Had the folk from the Catholic Archdiocese in Boston, 20 miles north of the town, showed just a fraction more forbearance – or locked the doors a bit more securely – they may have spared themselves a whole lot of aggravation. Nearly 11 years of it, in fact.

From that day until now the St Frances Xavier Cabrini church in the picturesque seaside town of Scituate has been under occupation by its own parishioners who refuse to see it closed. And that doesn’t mean their dropping by on and off, or holding the occasional lay Sunday service. No, someone from this most stubborn of flocks has been here every minute since. That’s 24 hours a day, seven days a week. No breaks, not even in winter blizzards.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Vatican’s announcement on tribunal to hold bishops to account on how they dealt with clerical sex abuse complaints should be broadly welcomed

Mon, Jun 15, 2015

The announcement by the Vatican that it is to set up a tribunal to hold bishops to account where they fail to protect children and vulnerable adults from sexually abusive priests, is to be welcomed.

Based at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, but headed by its own secretary, it will examine all cases of bishops accused of abusing their office and failing to report crimes committed by priests in their care. The announcement indicates that Pope Francis is serious about the issue of sexually abusive clergy. It is also important for the credibility of the Commission for the Protection of Minors, which he set up.

As significant was the speed with which the commission’s recommendations about such a tribunal were acted on. They were received by the Council of Cardinals, which advises Pope Francis, last Monday and his decision was announced on Wednesday. A similar body will be set up to hold superiors of religious congregations to account.

Both tribunals will include lay people. Not unnaturally, survivor groups have greeted these developments with caution. They’ve been let down too many times, but indications are positive. It’s been a long journey.

Almost 14 years ago the then head of the Vatican’s Congregation for Clergy, Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos, wrote to Bishop Pierre Pican of Bayeux-Lisieux in France congratulating him after he received a three-month suspended sentence for not co-operating with civil investigations into an abuser priest. Cardinal Hoyos’s letter was circulated to Catholic bishops’ conferences worldwide.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Stuttgarter Nachrichten

[2010 was a terrible year in the German Catholic Church as cases of sexual abuse of minors ere revealed. Pope Francis is taking steps to battle abuse.]

Markus Brauer, 14.06.2015

Kein noch so hohes Amt soll künftig in der Katholischen Kirche jene schützen, die sexuellen Missbrauch verschleiern und die Täter schützen. Unser Kirchenblog von Redakteur Dr. Markus Brauer.

Stuttgart – 2010 war ein bitteres Jahr für die Katholische Kirche. Vielleicht eines der bittersten in ihrer langen Geschichte. Ein Jahr, in dem ein wahrer Tsunami an Missbrauchsfällen das Vertrauen der Gläubigen in die klerikale Hierarchie – in Papst, Bischöfe und Priester – hinweggeschwemmt hat. Hat die Kirche ihren Lehren daraus gezogen? Sind die Weichen gestellt, dass jetzt und in Zukunft Kinder vor sexuellen Missbrauch durch Geistliche und Kirchenmitarbeiter besser geschützt sind?

Seitdem gibt es einen neuen Papst, der seit seinem Amtsantritt entschlossen gegen Kindesmissbrauch innerhalb der Kirche vorgeht. Die Einrichtung einer neuen juristischen Instanz im Vatikan, wie jetzt beschlossen, ist der nächste und logische Schritt. Papst Franziskus will so härter gegen Bischöfe vorgehen, die tatenlos zusehen, wie Geistliche derartige Verbrechen begehen. Die neue juristische Abteilung soll bei der Kongregation für die Glaubenslehre angesiedelt sein und sich weltweit um Fälle kümmern, in denen Oberhirten ihr Amt missbrauchen und sexuellen Missbrauch vertuschen oder nicht anzeigen.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Augsburger Allgemeine

[A large number cases of child sexual abuse have been discovered at a Catholic daycare center in Mainz.]

«Wir sind nicht nur angesichts des Ausmaßes und der Vielzahl der Fälle, sondern auch im Hinblick auf jeden Einzelfall tief betroffen», schrieb der Mainzer Generalvikar, Prälat Dietmar Giebelmann, am Donnerstag den Eltern der Kindertagesstätte in Mainz-Weisenau. Die Mitarbeiter hätten Berichte der Eltern über Übergriffe nicht ernst genommen.

Aufgrund von Elterngesprächen gebe es für die Vorfälle keine andere plausible Erklärung als «schwere und schwerste Aufsichtspflichtverletzungen».

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times

WRITTEN BY BARBARA BLAINE POSTED: 06/14/2015

It’s been 30 years since the first pedophile priest case attracted nationwide attention. Since then, we’ve seen literally hundreds of Catholic abuse panels of one stripe or another. So it’s hard for us in SNAP to feel excited about the promise of another one, especially one in which clerics will judge fellow clerics.

Each church committee feels like another move to handle criminal matters quietly and internally. There’s a far better alternative: the time-tested set of independent “tribunals” already in place to deal with those who commit or conceal child sex crimes called the secular justice system. It is where abuse and cover ups in other institutions are handled. But in most cases, church officials fight such legal action vigorously. They always have and still do.

If Vatican officials want to really protect kids and deter cover-ups, they have all the power and policies they need. They can start by insisting that bishops world-wide lobby politicians for stronger child safety laws, and turn over all files about accused predators to police now.

Within weeks of taking office, Pope Francis quickly ousted a German bishop who spent $42 million renovating his house. He could – and should — take similarly decisive action against hundreds of his complicit staff. No new “mechanism” was or is needed.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times

Editorial

The Archdiocese of Chicago has made great strides in confronting the scandal of child sexual abuse by clergy.

But the Roman Catholic Church’s failings of the past, here and elsewhere — the way in which bishops looked away for decades — cannot be denied. Only when bishops are held to account as fully as the priests they supervise can there be confidence this scandal will never come roaring back.

On Wednesday, in a major step, Pope Francis approved the creation of a Vatican tribunal for bishops accused of covering up for priests who rape or molest minors. Until now, a bishop could be disciplined only by the pope — and no pope has even once demoted a bishop for failing to take seriously allegations of abuse.

It is an essential reform, 30 years overdue. Now let’s see how effective it will be. The Vatican has yet to work out important details, such as the range of punishments or whether there will be a statute of limitations on old cases.

But there’s no denying the pope’s actions represent a sea change for an institution that for too long did little or nothing as bishops shuffled along abusive priests instead of calling the cops.

The new Vatican tribunal is a potential backstop to the Chicago archdiocese’s own commendable efforts in recent years to address the abuse scandal here. Last year, the archdiocese released thousands of pages of secret documents on 66 abusive priests. More significantly, the archdiocese has created policies and systems designed to safeguard against future abuse — and against looking the other way. Background checks are standard, for example, as well as fingerprinting for school employees. All allegation of abuse must be reported to secular authorities.

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UNITED STATES
Questions from a Ewe

Our dear bishops in the U.S. concluded their semi-annual meeting two days ago and I’m sure we’re all elated that they had the courage to tackle some really challenging topics during that meeting.

Their first vote addressed that vexing problem plaguing so many American Catholics…what to do about the canticles used in the Liturgy of the Hours. Well, friends, sleep peacefully tonight. They voted to use a new English translation of those canticles – “in a style similar to the Revised Grail Psalms, with emphasis on sprung rhythms and faithful translation.” Whew! Glad they got that sorted out! It’s easy to see why they voted on this first, and quite frankly, a bit surprising that they didn’t handle this pressing issue at an earlier date by calling a special meeting or something.

Their second vote pertained to priest formation / seminary training. If you love the “bells and smells,” non-pastoral, uber-orthodoxy with a heaping helping of spiritual and emotional immaturity emerging from seminaries of late, you are in luck because they decided to continue existing priest formation norms without any changes whatsoever for the next five years. As Mass participation plummets and young folks flee the church, at a vote of 179 “yes”, 1 “no” and 1 abstention, they overwhelmingly decided to pat themselves on the back and continue current course and speed. Can we conclude that further reduced Mass participation is their desired outcome since they voted to continue a formation program that seems to contribute significantly to laypeople’s disgust with and departure from the Church?

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 KINGDOM
The Sunday Times

David Hencke Published: 13 June 2015

THE judicial inquiry into child sex abuse is preparing to hire 20 barristers, including 10 QCs, prompting criticism that it is turning into a “gravy train for lawyers”.

The inquiry into historic claims of institutional child sexual exploitation, which is headed by the New Zealand judge Justice Lowell Goddard, is set to employ four times as many lawyers as the Savile inquiry into the Bloody Sunday killings, which cost almost £200m and lasted 12 years.

Exaro, an investigative website, has reported that the judge, who will examine explosive claims of sexual abuse by politicians and celebrities stretching back several decades, has handed the task of hiring 20 lawyers to Ben Emmerson QC, counsel to the inquiry, who is advertising the positions.

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.