ABUSE TRACKER

AUSTRALIA
3AW

A senior Victorian priest has welcomed a new inquiry into the cover-up of abuse by priests, approved by the Vatican last night.

Pope Francis has approved a Vatican department to hear accusations of bishops covering up or not preventing sexual abuse of minors.

Father Kevin Dillon of St Mary’s Church has told Neil Mitchell that current methods of holding priests to account are inadequate.

“I think anything that moves towards greater accountability within the Church is very welcome,” Fr. Dillon said on 3AW on Thursday.

“There aren’t enough structures built in whereby the people that we serve are able to let their voice be heard and pull us up where we need to be.”

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Register

BY EDWARD PENTIN
06/09/2015

VATICAN CITY — A lawyer representing Cardinal George Pell has asked Peter Saunders, a sexual-abuse survivor and member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, to correct “false allegations” he has made against the cardinal and withdraw them.

The move is just the latest development in a strange dispute that has left Vatican officials confounded and unsure of what to do next. The cardinal’s position, however, is not thought to be at risk.

In a June 8 letter to Saunders, attorney Richard Leder said the strong criticisms Saunders made against the cardinal on the Australian Channel Nine program 60 Minutes last month were “either uninformed as to the relevant history or were deliberately selective.”

In his comments on the program, Saunders claimed the cardinal had a “catalogue of denigrating people, of acting with callousness, coldheartedness.” He said such “lack of care” was “almost sociopathic.”

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CANADA
Vancouver Sun

BY BRIAN MORTON, VANCOUVER SUN

The Anglican Church of Canada will issue a formal apology Monday for the historical abuse perpetrated by one of its priests, in the hopes of making amends to victims who never came forward.

The late Goichi Gordon Nakayama, a former priest in B.C. and Alberta and the father of poet and novelist Joy Kagawa, ministered to the Japanese-Canadian community. He was ordained in 1932 and left the church in 1995, the same year he died.

In 1994, he confessed in a letter to church officials to sexually abusing many people and resigned from the church in 1995.

The church dealt with the scandal internally, allowing Nakayama to resign. There’s nothing to indicate that the police were ever informed, said Randy Murray, communications officer for the Diocese of New Westminster, which covers most of the southwestern B.C. mainland.

“There’s never been anything said about that (going to police),” Murray said on Wednesday, noting that he didn’t know why but that the bishops will address that issue. “There was nothing done.”

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UNITED STATES
Verdict

Marci A. Hamilton

The Josh Duggar and Dennis Hastert cases highlight the need to reform criminal and civil statutes of limitations (SOL) so that victims of childhood sexual abuse can seek justice in the courts of law when they are ready, even if it is years after the abuse against them occurred. In fact, I dare anyone to name the never-ending list of perpetrators and institutions that have cheated justice and gotten a free pass from this legal technicality—Penn State, the Olympic swim team, Catholic and Latter-day Saints bishops, Jewish rabbis, the Horace Mann School in New York, and the Boy Scouts, among others. All these, and thousands of others show how perverse the current SOLs can be when it comes to this horrific crime. There is hope, though.

An SOL is nothing other than a deadline for going to court. And when it expires, a victim—regardless of the strength of the case—is shut out of the justice system. There are good reasons for SOLs in many contexts, like contract and property disputes, but no good reason for an SOL when the victim is a child. We know that the average age for victims to come forward is 42, which is several decades after the abuse occurred. So, the only beneficiaries of short SOLs are sex offenders themselves, and entities that aid and abet and cover up their crimes.

The criminal charges filed last week against the Minneapolis Archdiocese show the light that shines at the end of the SOL tunnel.

The SOLs Prevent Justice for Hastert’s Victims

Three of Dennis Hastert’s victims have come forward. So far, no one is remotely within the Illinois criminal or civil SOLs. When Hastert was a coach at Yorkville High School in Illinois from 1965 to 1981, the child sex abuse SOLs were cruelly short. The criminal SOL ran three years after the abuse, and the personal injury SOL ran two years after the event. That’s right; victims had to race to court to get justice.

But for these short SOLs, Hastert’s victims could have pressed charges or sued Hastert for the abuse when they were ready, which is more often than not in one’s 40s. According to the indictment, Hastert’s payments to one of his victims began in 2010. If that man was 15 in 1980 (to use round numbers), he was 45 in 2010.

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NEW JERSEY
The Record

Editorial

POPE FRANCIS took another important step toward making the Catholic Church fully accountable for its role in allowing priests to sexually abuse children for decades. The pontiff approved a plan to create a Vatican tribunal that would hold bishops accountable for how they dealt with sexual abuse cases in their respective dioceses.

The priest sexual abuse scandals that have rocked the foundation of the church revealed an institution more obsessed with self-preservation than with child protection. U.S. bishops, for example, have endorsed their own national charter that created a protocol for responding to sexual abuse allegations, but bishops are held accountable by the Vatican, not by other bishops. While it is unclear how much teeth this tribunal will have, it is a very promising development.

But it does not take the place of civil law enforcement’s ability to fully investigate any allegations of sexual abuse by priests. For the church to fully address this widespread problem it has to ensure that every bishop, every pastor, every priest knows that his first priority is to protect children from predators. Police must be contacted immediately, and dioceses must fully cooperate with them.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Herald

By: Bob McGovern

A new Vatican tribunal — charged with investigating bishops who fail to protect children from sexually abusive priests — has come under fire from critics who believe the Catholic Church still isn’t doing enough to protect its most vulnerable members.

“This is a process, and a process can be used or abused,” said David Clohessy, executive director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. “We fear that this will be used to encourage complacency and mollify parishioners and generate good headlines. We will be pleasantly surprised if it’s actually used to discourage cover-ups.”

The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors yesterday announced what it called “a new judicial section” to examine cases of bishops accused of protecting priests who abused children. The commission is headed by Boston’s Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley.

O’Malley is currently in Rome, and spokesman Terrence Donilon referred all questions to the Vatican.

Those who confronted the horror of priest sexual abuse said they are encouraged but aren’t sure whether the new tribunal will be effective.

“I think we will only know if this works when cases come up and bishops are indeed held accountable,” said Charles Martel, a psychotherapist who worked with individuals who were sexually abused by priests. “This could be a good thing, but we also really hope that this isn’t a situation where we hope, but nothing happens.”

Meanwhile, Catholic Church supporters say it’s a step in the right direction.

“In the past it has been helter skelter, and this will be much more judicial and specific,” said Philip Moran, former pastoral counsel for the Archdiocese of Boston. “I think there are people on the other side who still want their pound of flesh, and this should help alleviate the situation.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

By John L. Allen Jr. and Rosa Nguyen GLOBE STAFF AND GLOBE CORRESPONDENT JUNE 11, 2015

Pope Francis, addressing arguably the biggest point of contention over the Vatican’s response to the Catholic child sexual abuse scandals, endorsed new procedures on Wednesday to judge bishops charged with violating the church’s “zero tolerance” policy for abuse by clergy members.

The Vatican announced Francis has approved the creation of a church tribunal to judge the accused bishops and to ensure they are punished by the church in addition to facing criminal penalties.

The idea — recommended by a panel headed by Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley of Boston — comes as the pope’s handling of the long-lasting crisis has been drawing fire around the world. Some sex-abuse survivors and their representatives reacted cautiously to the new approach.

“I will withhold judgment of the committee until it’s proved it will do anything. There have been all kinds of committees over the years that essentially have done nothing,’’ said Ann Hagan Webb, the New England representative for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

A British abuse survivor, Peter Saunders, who sits on an antiabuse commission advising the pontiff and who has been critical of the Catholic Church on other fronts, called the creation of the tribunal a “positive step” that shows “the pope is listening.” …

An American clearinghouse for information related to the Catholic abuse scandals, BishopAccountability.org, released a statement Wednesday calling the new tribunal “a promising step” but warning that making it work would require “a courage and an aggressive commitment that have so far been sadly lacking.”

Roderick MacLeish, a lawyer whose firm represented hundreds of victims in the Boston Archdiocese sex-abuse scandal, said Cardinal Bernard Law, O’Malley’s predecessor in Boston, should be a focus of the new tribunal. Law was criticized for failing to adequately address the sex-abuse scandal in Boston.

“The first person who should be on the list is Cardinal Law. If this tribunal is going to be meaningful, it has to start in Boston,” MacLeish said.

Mitchell Garabedian, another Boston lawyer who has represented clergy sex-abuse victims, called the creation of the tribunal “cosmetic in nature.’’

“The members of the tribunal will probably be made up of church officials who had known of the sexual abuse of children by priests for decades yet did not act to protect children,” Garabedian said.

The BishopAccountability.org group also cited an American prelate who might become a target for the tribunal: Archbishop John Nienstedt of St. Paul and Minneapolis, who has been accused of allowing at least two priests to continue serving despite facing either allegations or convictions for the abuse of minors.

The situation in St. Paul-Minneapolis is so bad that the archdiocese is in bankruptcy from paying victims’ claims, and prosecutors filed criminal charges last week against the archdiocese as a corporation for failing to protect children.

The new tribunal will be housed within the Vatican’s powerful Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which lends it immediate political heft.

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MASSACHUSETTS
ABC News

BOSTON — Jun 10, 2015

By PHILIP MARCELO Associated Press

Parishioners illegally occupying a long-closed Roman Catholic church were issued a reprieve Wednesday after a judge ruled they could continue their round-the-clock vigil while they appeal a lower court decision that ordered them to vacate.

Mary Elizabeth Carmody, the lawyer for the Friends of St. Frances X. Cabrini Church, said she was surprised how quick the decision was but added that the key test was still to come. A three-panel judge will next consider their bid to have the order declaring them trespassers thrown out altogether, she said. Arguments in that case will come at a later date.

“It’s a relief,” Carmody said late Wednesday. “But it doesn’t surprise me, based on the judge’s comments in court.”

Earlier Wednesday, Associate Justice Judd Carhart heard arguments in a brief hearing packed with protesters.

Carmody argued that a lower court judge had made “several, consistent” legal errors and “abused” his discretion when he considered the Archdiocese of Boston’s petition to remove the protesters from the property.

The protesters say the judge, among other things, wrongly denied their request for a jury trial and did not consider their primary arguments, which were largely focused on church law.

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CHICAGO (IL)
CBS Chicago

Jay Levine

(CBS) — Pope Francis ordered a Vatican tribunal to deal with bishops who failed to protect children in a move to fill what some have called a gap in the church’s fight against sex abuse by priests.

CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports it’s a major step by a no-nonsense Pope, extending the zero tolerance, one strike you’re out policy toward predator priests, to those who’ve enabled them: bishops allowed to retire or step aside without formal sanctions.

“No bishop or vicar of priests or cardinal has ever been disciplined for covering up sex abuse of victims and that’s a shame,” said attorney Marc Pearlman.

Files released by the Chicago Archdiocese last year showed some auxiliary bishops had moved offenders from parish to parish, hoping treatment or a change of venue would stop them.

Several months later, the victims group SNAP took its fight to the World Court.

“What we want to see is the Vatican punish the bishops who cover up the sex crimes,” said SNAP founder Barbara Blaine.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian Jewish News

ORTHODOX rabbis within Australia and New Zealand have come together to establish a new organisation to help educate members to face the challenges of the modern rabbinate, develop a code of conduct which all members must adhere to and to represent them more efficiently and effectively to the broader community.

The Rabbinic Council of Australia and New Zealand (RCANZ) was formed last week when more than 50 rabbis from across the continent gathered in Melbourne.

Working with state-based rabbinic councils, lay leadership bodies, and professional organisations including the staff at the Sir Zelman Cowan Centre, where the conference was held, the RCANZ also aims to provide continuing professional development for members.

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CALIFORNIA
Your Central Valley

Former Pastor of St. Joseph Church in Los Banos Arrested.

Merced County District Attorney’s Office filed formal charges against Rev. Robert E. Gamel, former Pastor of St. Joseph Church in Los Banos.

In August 2014, the Department began an investigation into allegations of internet related sex crimes perpetrated by Gamel. Detectives worked with Federal investigators on the case, but after a lengthy review it was determined best handled by the Merced County District Attorney’s Office. “The investigation has been painstaking, and we have been committed to completing a thorough investigation to determine the best possible outcome.

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CALIFORNIA
Merced Sun-Star

BY ROB PARSONS
rparsons@mercedsunstar.com

A former Los Banos Catholic priest has been charged with possession of child pornography following a 10-month investigation by the city’s police department.

The Rev. Robert Gamel was arrested Wednesday afternoon and booked into the Merced County Jail, according to booking records.

The Merced County District Attorney’s Office on Tuesday filed a single felony count against Gamel of possession of matter depicting sexual conduct of person under the age of 18, according to court records.

A warrant was issued for his arrest, but Gamel surrendered Wednesday to the Los Banos Police Department, Cmdr. Jason Hedden confirmed.

Gamel was booked Wednesday afternoon into the Merced County Jail on the charge, posted $20,000 bail just 30 minutes later and was released.

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TEXAS
The Pasadena Citizen

By Stacey Glaesmann

GALVESTON — Dr. Dennis Hughes, a Pediatric Oncologist employed by MD Anderson Cancer Center accused of Federal Possession of Child Pornography, arrived for his Preliminary Exam and Detention hearing at the Federal Courthouse here Wednesday (June 10) afternoon.

The FBI confiscated large numbers of pornographic files containing images of children from Hughes’s Pearland home on Friday (June 5) and Hughes confessed to the crime. …

The defense called Dr. Hughes’s wife to the stand and asked questions that painted a picture of a loving husband and father who volunteered at his children’s’ school, attended Catholic church and served as an Assistant Coach for several years for Pearland Little League.

Dr. Hughes wept as he listened to his wife tearfully answer questions.

Mrs. Hughes and SA Berry both testified that there was no known evidence of any inappropriate contact between Hughes and either his own children or any children from the larger community, including his patients.

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TEXAS
ABC 13

By Miya Shay

GALVESTON, TX (KTRK) — A pediatric cancer doctor accused of possessing child porn was released on bond Wednesday afternoon, 5 days after his arrest.

Dr. Dennis Hughes walked out of the Galveston County Jail to a crowd of media. He didn’t say a word about the accusations against him.

On Friday, the world-renowned doctor was arrested in his Pearland home for allegedly possessing thousands of images of child pornography in his home. Federal agencies say the MD Anderson doctor had more than 8,200 images of young girls inside his home. MD Anderson has contacted more than 200 of his patients and have placed him on paid administrative leave.

When Dr. Hughes was released, we tried to ask him about exclusive Eyewitness News information about his arrest and charges in 2002 when he was a fellow at the University of Michigan. He had no comment. He got into a waiting vehicle with his wife and left.

Dr. Hughes is out on $50,000 bond. There are a number of conditions, including no internet and not being able to be near children except for his own.

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TEXAS
KHOU

GALVESTON, Texas – A judge has decided that an M.D. Anderson pediatric oncologist accused of possessing child pornography can be released on a $50,000 bond

The judge said he believed Dr. Dennis Hughes did not pose a flight risk or danger to anyone.

Hughes was arrested at his Pearland home last Friday, June 5 and charged with possession of child pornography.

The court ordered Hughes to wear a GPS monitor at all times, not to access the Internet, surrender his passport, have no unsupervised contact with minors (except his children) and not be near places where children regularly congregate, such as schools and parks.

At the hearing in Galveston, Hughes’ wife testified that she did not know of her husband’s alleged activities.

An FBI agent testified that they also found child porn on Hughes’ work computer, although there was no evidence of patients being involved. The FBI also testified that Dr. Hughes confessed to his priest that he viewed child porn but never sought professional help.

Additional information was also presented that Hughes regularly participates in childrens’ activities at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic School including the Lord’s Day Program, in which he sings songs in a classroom with children. In addition, Hughes was allegedly scheduled to participate in their vacation bible school later this month. He was also a regular fixture at the children’s chapel and was known to take pictures of the children at the school.

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CALIFORNIA
Bakersfield Now

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK/KBFX) – A priest of the Diocese of Fresno has been arrested on suspicion of possessing matter depicting a minor engaging in sexual conduct.

Father Robert Gamel has been on leave from St. Joseph Church in Los Banos since last summer. The Diocese of Fresno announced his arrest Wednesday.

The investigation started after concerned parents contacted the church. Last fall, Los Banos Police Commander Jason Hedden confirmed to Eyewitness News that the priest had allegedly obtained nude photographs of a teenager from social media websites.

Most Rev. Armando X. Ochoa, bishop of the Diocese of Fresno, issued the following statement Wednesday: “It is with great sorrow when a Bishop receives news that one of his priests has been charged with a crime; especially, something that involves a minor. My concern is for the wellbeing of all who are impacted; the youth, the family, the parish and school community, his brother priests, and for Fr. Gamel. The days ahead will be difficult for many. I ask the faithful to hold this matter of concern in prayer so that healing may begin.”

Gamel is no stranger to Kern County. According to Teresa Dominguez, chancellor and spokeswoman for the Diocese of Fresno, the priest served at Christ the King Church in Oildale, Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Bakersfield and St. Joseph Mission Church in Oildale, which no longer exists.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

[with audio]

Emily Kaiser Jun 8, 2015

The whistleblower who revealed how her superiors at the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis were handling clergy sexual misconduct said the recent criminal charges and civil petition are a step in the right direction to stop future abuse.

Jennifer Haselberger was once the top canon lawyer for the archdiocese. She resigned that post and two years ago approached MPR News with her story of frustration.

The archdiocese stands criminally accused after Friday’s announcement of charges by Ramsey County Attorney John Choi, who said the archdiocese contributed to harm done to three victims of former priest Curtis Wehmeyer.

“I think a lot of emphasis is being placed on the criminal charges, which I think many people feel are appropriate, but to me the real interest is the civil petition that’s conjoined with it,” Haselberger said. “In terms of actually creating a safer environment for children and the vulnerable in the church, it’s going to be the civil petition that will do that.”

The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office also filed a civil motion that “would force the archdiocese to stop the alleged illegal behavior,” reported MPR News. “It asks the court to require the archdiocese to fix the conditions that led to the problems, a county attorney’s office spokesman said.”

Haselberger said she is still waiting to hear an official apology from the church and to see serious changes to the organization.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
NBC 12

By RACHEL ZOLL
AP Religion Writer

ST. LOUIS (AP) – The U.S. bishops’ point-person on the environment defended Pope Francis’ plan to issue a high-level teaching document next week on ecology and climate change, saying Wednesday that global warming was the result of moral failings that the Roman Catholic Church has a duty to address.

Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami, head of the bishops’ committee on justice and human development, said he has heard the comments from critics that the church should leave the debate to scientists. Wenski said the science is clear enough that global warming is occurring and that some leadership is needed to move beyond the ideological divisions that have plagued public discussion.

“Much of the debate on ecology in the past years has been really caught up in the partisan divide. Hopefully, by Pope Francis weighing in on it, he’s going to transcend that,” Wenski said, in an interview at a meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. “Ecology is a moral issue because it touches human beings. And anything that touches human beings has moral and ethical implications. And that is what the pope is going to explore.” …

he highly anticipated papal teaching document, or encyclical, will be released June 18, and was expected to be the dominant topic at the St. Louis assembly of the bishops. However, as the session began, the Vatican announced Francis had approved a proposal from his sex abuse advisory panel for a tribunal system that would review cases of bishops who committed “abuse of office.” …

The announcement for the global church has particular resonance for the United States, where the abuse crisis erupted in 2002, then spread around the world. No U.S. bishop has been punished by the church for failing to notify parents or police about guilty priests.

In April, Bishop Robert Finn of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, who was convicted of failing to report suspected child abuse, resigned. Last week, prosecutors charged the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis with child endangerment. Archbishop John Nienstedt, who was not charged, attended the St. Louis meeting.

The Rev. Thomas Reese, an analyst with the National Catholic Reporter, called the Vatican announcement a “shot across the bow” to bishops around the world that they must “get their act together or there will be consequences.”

Bishop Christopher Coyne of Burlington, Vermont, said in an interview that the American bishops were not alerted ahead of time about the announcement, and learned of the plan only from news reports, which spread among the bishops as they listened to speeches on the environment and their relief work in Haiti.

Cardinal Sean O’Malley, who leads the pope’s advisory commission on abuse, is the archbishop of Boston, and was in Rome this week for meetings as a member of the pope’s advisory council of cardinals.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
CBS St. Louis

Kevin Killeen (@KMOXKilleen)
June 10, 2015

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) – U.S. Catholic Bishops meeting in St. Louis are accused by a survivors group of failing to live up to the promises made to protect children at the Dallas Conference of Bishops in 2002.

David Closhessy of the survivors group SNAP – Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests – says more than a dozen “credibly accused” priests in the U.S. are still serving.

“Bishops have repeatedly said we will quickly suspend predator priests and keep them away from kids. And we’ve seen increasingly bishops are breaking that promise,” he says.

Archbishop John Wester, of Santa Fe, says in his experience, credibly accused priests are being suspended and investigated.

“Obviously the church, you know, we’re human beings, doing our best, that doesn’t mean we’re not going to make mistakes, but we want to know when we do make them and we want to correct them.”

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ROME
Global Post

Jason Berry on Jun 10, 2015

ROME — The Vatican announced today that Pope Francis’s nine Council of Cardinals — top churchmen charged with reforming the Roman Curia — embraced a plan by Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley for a tribunal to weigh “allegations of the abuse of office by a bishop connected with the abuse of minors.”

The proposal, accepted by the pope, marks a shift in Vatican handling of the long crisis by establishing a church arena for proceedings against bishops, who with few exceptions have had de facto immunity for any role in concealing sexual predators.

The tribunal will be part of Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, formerly the Holy Office of the Inquisition, which has long judged theologians accused of straying from doctrinal unity. In a development pushed by Pope Benedict, who as a cardinal governed the CDF for most of John Paul’s long papacy, the office has in recent years defrocked close to 900 priests for abuse of youngsters.
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The development was welcomed by lay people appointed by the pope to his advisory board, the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

“I am very pleased that Pope Francis has approved our commission’s proposal concerning bishop accountability in case of abuse of minors,” Dr. Catherine Bonnet, a French psychiatrist with a history of treating abuse survivors told GroundTruth.

“It is a very important move forward for the protection of minors,” she said from France, echoing praise of Peter Saunders, an abuse survivor in London on the commission.

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IRELAND
RTE News

The leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland has said Pope Francis’ new tribunal to judge bishops accused of covering up child sexual abuse should investigate allegations relating to events a long time ago.

Archbishop Eamon Martin was speaking following the Vatican announcement that it had accepted proposals for such a body made by a Papal commission on child protection.

The Pope approved an unprecedented Vatican department to judge bishops accused of covering up or not preventing sexual abuse of minors, meeting a key demand by victims’ groups.

A statement said the department would come under the auspices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican’s doctrinal arm, “to judge bishops with regard to crimes of the abuse of office when connected to the abuse of minors”.

Victims groups have for years been urging the Vatican to establish clear procedures to make bishops more accountable for abuse in their dioceses, even if they were not directly responsible for it.

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi told reporters that the bishops could also be judged if they had failed to take measures to prevent sexual abuse of minors.

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VATICAN CITY
The West Australian

Vatican City (AFP) – Pope Francis has approved the creation of an internal Church tribunal empowered to punish bishops who cover up sex abuse by priests, the Vatican said Wednesday.

Under the reform, bishops suspected of protecting paedophile clerics or of failing to respond promptly to allegations of abuse face being charged with “abuse of episcopal office” under canon law, the Church’s internal set of rules.

The move follows a recommendation from the Vatican’s child protection commission, a body which includes victims of paedophile priests among its lay members and was set up last year with a brief to root out sex abuse in the Catholic Church.

The panel’s recommendation was also recently endorsed by the C9 group of cardinals who advise Francis.

The head of the Catholic Church in Ireland, which has been rocked by waves of sexual abuse scandals, told reporters the new tribunal should tackle cases from the past.

“I think that justice is indeed retrospective,” said Archbishop of Armagh Eamon Martin, whose predecessor Cardinal Sean Brady resigned last year after claims he failed to act on abuse.

“When it comes to something like child safeguarding just because something happened a long time ago doesn’t mean you’re not accountable for it now.”

The reform was greeted with scepticism by the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, which warned that the Church’s record meant it could not be relied upon to hold bishops to account.

“As long as clerics are in charge of dealing with other clerics who commit and conceal child sex crimes, little will change,” said the campaign group president, Barbara Blaine.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Science Monitor

By Sarah Caspari, Staff writer JUNE 10, 2015

The Catholic Church has taken strides to punish priests who have abused children, and is now widening its focus to include the bishops who supervise priests. Bishops have long been criticized for neglecting to prevent or report cases of abuse, and on Wednesday Pope Francis approved a tribunal to hold them accountable.

Under the new plan, complaints can be filed against bishops who respond inappropriately to cases of abuse. Next, one of three Vatican departments would investigate the complaint. The bishop would then be brought before the tribunal, run by the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, for judgment.

The Vatican has not yet released information on the protocol for filing complaints.

Recommended: How much do you know about the Catholic Church? Take our quiz!
The plan came to the pope from the Pontifical Commission on the Protection of Minors, a group that includes two victims of sexual abuse by clergy members: Peter Saunders and Marie Collins. Both Mr. Saunders and Ms. Collins praised the pope for approving the plan.

Collins wrote via Twitter, “Very pleased the Pope has approved the Commission’s proposal on accountability,” and Saunders told Catholic news site Crux, “this is a positive step that clearly indicates that Pope Francis is listening to his commission.”

The proposal details five points for the establishment of the new system. Anne Barrett Doyle of BishopAccountability.org, an organization that digitally archives public documents on the subject, told Reuters in an email that the plan is “potentially quite significant” because it develops “a clear road map for disciplining bishops who conceal or enable child sexual abuse.”

However, while the plan may present a novel approach, some victims’ advocates are saying it does not go far enough. The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) said in a statement that the pope “could have sacked dozens of complicit bishops. He has, however, sacked no one.” SNAP director David Clohessy condemned the plan for failing to provide concrete punishments.

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UNITED STATES
Business Wire

* Senator Harry Reid leads legislative effort to empower survivors of abuse by providing incentives for states to remove statute of limitations
* Foundation co-founders Desirae and Deondra Brown offer perspective on bill for members of Congress and the media

June 10, 2015

WASHINGTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The Foundation for Survivors of Abuse today announced that co-founders Desirae and Deondra Brown are working closely with U.S. Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) to guide the development of federal legislation that encourages all U.S. states and territories to remove the statute of limitations for crimes of sexual abuse.

The Reid bill would empower survivors of sexual abuse by providing incentives for states to enable victims to file charges against their perpetrators when they are ready to come forward.

Founding members of the internationally renowned piano quintet The Five Browns, Deondra and Desirae Brown created The Foundation for Survivors of Abuse to provide healing and empowerment for survivors of sexual abuse.

“We sincerely thank and applaud Senator Reid and his team for having the courage and compassion to develop and fight for this legislation,” said Desirae Brown. “Our own experiences with sexual abuse by our father made us realize the crucial need for survivors of abuse to heal and come forward on their own terms, whenever they feel ready. This includes empowerment to pursue prosecution against their abusers.”

“Triggers that send a victim back to the abuse, anxiety and PTSD are very real conditions, exacerbated when we are forced to deal with situations before we are able,” added Deondra Brown. “We know firsthand that survivors have to dig deep to find the courage to take back the power and control that is taken from us by sexual abuse.”

Sen. Reid and his staff have completed the bill’s initial draft, and are currently seeking Republican and Democratic co-sponsors to refine and help ensure its passage.

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UNITED STATES
Crux

By John L. Allen Jr.
Associate editor June 10, 2015

In one fell swoop Wednesday, Pope Francis moved to address arguably the greatest bone of contention about the Vatican’s response to the Catholic child sexual abuse scandals and also gave himself a badly needed bit of good news, at a time when his handling of the scandals has been drawing fire around the world.

The Vatican announced Wednesday that Francis has approved the creation of a tribunal — a Church court — to judge bishops charged with failing to apply the Church’s official “zero tolerance” policy for abuse of minors properly. The idea is to ensure that if a bishop drops the ball, he’s held accountable.

The tribunal will be housed within the Vatican’s powerful Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which lends it immediate political heft. In another sign of how seriously Francis takes it, he also approved an exception to a Vatican hiring freeze imposed in 2013 to allow the tribunal to attract qualified personnel.

The idea to create the court came from the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, an advisory panel for the pontiff created in 2014 and headed by Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley of Boston. It’s thus also further confirmation that O’Malley is the prime mover in shaping policy under Francis on matters related to sexual abuse. …

Critics cited Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph, for instance, who was convicted on a misdemeanor criminal charge of delaying to report an accusation of child abuse against one of his priests in 2012, but remained on the job until Francis accepted his resignation in April.

Speaking on background, Vatican officials said the new tribunal is designed to handle precisely that sort of situation. In theory, a bishop could appeal a verdict to the pope, but a Vatican spokesman said Wednesday “there’s no reason to expect he’d overrule the tribunal’s decision.”

The announcement comes at a time when the pope’s commitment to abuse reform has come into question in various parts of the world.

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UNITED STATES
Voice of the Faithful

BOSTON, Mass., May 10, 2015 – The Roman Catholic Church reform movement Voice of the Faithful today thanks the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors and Cardinal Sean O’Malley for presenting proposals to Pope Francis that have led to establishment of a new Vatican tribunal for judicial review of allegations against bishops involved in clergy sexual abuse of children.

At the same time, we thank Pope Francis for approving the tribunal and authorizing funding for it.

Time will tell whether these moves actually result in holding bishops accountable for coverups of crimes, but these steps are the most promising the Vatican has yet taken.

Although thankful that Pope Francis has funded the tribunal, we are awaiting similar funding for the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. Unlike other Vatican committees, the Commission answers directly to the Pope and not to other Curial offices—and funding is essential for the Commission to maintain its independence from the Curia.

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UNITED STATES
National Survivor Advocates Coalition

For Immediate Release
June 10, 2015

National Survivor Advocates Coalition (NSAC) Statement Regarding Pope Francis’ Acceptance of Papal Commission’s Recommendations Regarding Bishops and Sexual Abuse

Contact: Kristine Ward, Chair, National Survivor Advocates Coalition (NSAC) 937-272-0308, KristineWard@hotmail.com

The proof is in the pudding.

We will wait and see.

Trusting in this action will require hope. We will hold out hope that The Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith will be capable of a 180 degree reversal of the thinking that permitted, indeed appeared to encourage Bishop Robert Finn, recently resigned from the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph from presiding at ordinations.

If this truly is a back to the drawing board moment, we will watch to see what the new picture looks like.

Sadly, though, there is no indication in today’s news that there will be any action taken retroactively against any Bishop regardless of the preponderance of evidence that has surfaced in the crisis. That’s a pity. Through depositions and other legal disclosures it has certainly become evident that Cardinals, Archbishops and Bishops have protected abusers and caused children to suffer.

Ultimately, it is Pope Francis’ responsibility to remove a Bishop and we hope he does so when a Bishop’s actions have protected perpetrators and caused suffering to children and the adults they become.

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

By Inés San Martín
Vatican correspondent June 10, 2015

ROME — Two survivors of clerical sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, who now sit on a commission advising the pope, hailed Francis’ creation on Wednesday of a new Vatican court designed to impose accountability on bishops who mishandle abuse complaints.

Speaking to Crux via e-mail, British layman Peter Saunders called Wednesday’s announcement “good news,” saying “this is a positive step that clearly indicates that Pope Francis is listening to his commission.”

Commission member Marie Collins of Ireland said via Twitter that she was “very pleased” with the pope’s decision to launch a new tribunal to conduct trials under Church law against bishops who fail to act on abuse charges.

The thumbs-up from Saunders and Collins is significant, given that both have been outspokenly critical of several aspects of the Vatican’s response to the abuse scandals, especially a perceived lack of accountability.

Last February, Saunders said that there’s “an abysmal record of so many ill-judged responses by priests and dioceses around the world.”

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

Brian Roewe | Jun. 10, 2015

ST. LOUIS
Requiring all allegations of clergy sexual abuse to be reviewed by diocesan review boards and making mandatory parish audits should be priorities for bishops, according to the head of its National Review Board.

Francesco Cesareo, chair of the National Review Board established under the Dallas Charter, addressed a gathering here of more than 200 bishops Wednesday morning. Cesareo said the U.S. church has made great strides in combating the abuse issue but left open the door for continued improvement and vigilance.

The chair reviewed pieces of the board’s annual report, which found that 188 dioceses participated in the last audit. The Lincoln, Neb., diocese and five eparchies did not, but Cesareo noted that three of those eparchies have indicated they will participate this year. During the 2014 audit year, 37 allegations were made by current minors, with six of them found substantiated.

“This persistence of allegations begs some questions for your consideration. Is there a need to change the audit instrument? Is the audit effectively serving the purpose for which you originally intended? How can the audit more effectively ensure the charter is being implemented and children are being protected? What more can we learn from the audits?” Cesereo asked.

He said answering those questions could lead to a more effective audit.

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CANADA
Metro

By Kristy Kirkup
The Canadian Press

OTTAWA – The national chief of the Assembly of First Nations wants the prime minister to urge Pope Francis to apologize for his church’s role in Canada’s residential school legacy.

Perry Bellegarde says this is a “prime opportunity” for the prime minister to raise the issue.

Stephen Harper is to meet the Pope in the Vatican on Thursday. The meeting comes exactly seven years after the prime minister issued his own apology in the House of Commons to school survivors.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was tasked with interviewing thousands of residential school students and documenting their experiences, issued its key findings and 94 recommendations last week. They included a call for a papal apology on Canadian soil.

Bellegarde said that would help bring closure to students who suffered atrocities and abuses at the schools, many of which were run by the Roman Catholic Church.

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UNITED STATES
CBS Philly

Mark Abrams

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Pope Francis’ decision to hold bishops accountable for failing to protect children from clergy sex abuse is drawing praise from a Philadelphia-based professor who follows the Vatican and Catholic Church issues.

St. Joseph’s University theology professor William Madges says the pope’s approval of a new Vatican tribunal to examine how bishops have responded to clergy abuse cases – only a year after appointing an advisory panel on the subject – is significant.

Madges says what’s most striking in the pope’s announcement is that a judicial panel will look at cases of omission as well as commission…What that means is…

“Not holding bishops accountable only if they actively helped cover something up or were guilty of abuse themselves,” Madges says, “but rather if they failed to act namely, if they should have known what was going on and didn’t know or didn’t take the appropriate action.”

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VATICAN CITY
CNN

By Daniel Burke, CNN Religion Editor

(CNN)Pope Francis has created a church tribunal to judge bishops who fail to protect children from sexually abusive priests, the Vatican announced Wednesday, a move long sought by abuse victims and their advocates.

The new court will be part of the powerful Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Catholic Church’s chief watchdog. Since 2001, the congregation has judged priests accused of sexual abuse, but there has been no Vatican office with a similar role to judge bishops.

The Rev. Federico Lombardi, a Vatican spokesman, said the Pope will appoint a secretary and permanent staff for the tribunal. The tribunal was proposed by the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, which was appointed last year by Pope Francis.

Longtime critics of the Vatican called Wednesday’s move a “sea change” within the Catholic Church.

“Priests abuse children, and so do bishops,” said Terence McKiernan, president of the watchdog group BishopAccountability.org. “Bishops who offend are inevitable enablers, and the commission’s plan must confront that sad fact.”…

“I don’t have a lot of background information on it,” said Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. However, Kurtz said, he welcomes the Pope’s new tribunal. “We are eager to cooperate, and we know it’s a direction that we have to take seriously.”

Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami, who is also in St. Louis for the meeting of Catholic bishops, said the tribunal does not represent the first time that popes have held bishops accountable.

“Throughout history popes have deposed bishops for various reasons,” he said.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, June 10

Statement by Becky Ianni of Burke VA, Washington DC area director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 703 801 6044, SNAPvirginia@cox,net )

Sound isn’t necessarily music. Motion isn’t necessarily progress. And a “process” isn’t necessarily prevention, especially if that process involves clergy sex crimes and cover ups and the Catholic hierarchy.

The problem has never been a lack of Vatican officials with the specific “process” to investigate their complicit colleagues. The problem has been, and is, a lack of Vatican officials with the courage to investigate their complicit colleagues. Sadly, no words on paper can give timid, career-focused, self-serving monarchs the courage to do what’s right – expose the corrupt colleagues.

Let’s be clear: we never asked for a new “process” to discipline bishops who endanger kids, protect predators, stonewall prosecutors, shrewd evidence, and mislead parishioners. We just asked that it be done. And it hasn’t been done.

Similarly, we never asked for a new “process” for a trial for Polish Archbishop Joseph
Wesolowski, who is accused of sexually abusing kids in the Dominican Republic. Vatican officials claim, however, that they’ve set one up and will put him on trial. It hasn’t been done – and he resigned his post almost two years ago. (We want him tried in secular courts.)

We never asked for a new “process” to oust complicit bishops. We asked that it be done. And it hasn’t been done.

We never asked for a new “process” for bishops to post names of proven, admitted and credibly accused child molesting clerics. We asked that it be done. Roughly 30 US bishops did. Most still haven’t.

A “process” can be used or abused. We fear this one will be used to mollify distraught parishioners and generate nice headlines. We hope to be proven wrong. If this “process” leads to complicit bishops being ousted and cover ups being deterred, we’ll be thrilled. But we’re not counting on it.

A new process can lead to prevention or to complacency. It’s just too early to tell. And it’s best to stay vigilant, especially given the troubling track record of church abuse bodies.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

Parishioners wanted to express their disappointment with the Archbishop for targeting another priest.
Guam – Another silent protest was held today in front of the Archdiocese of Agana Chancery Office.

This time local Catholics gathered to demonstrate their disappointment with Archbishop Anthony Apuron for targeting yet another priest in the Church.

Local Catholics and parishioners were showed up to the parking lot of the Chancery Office to express their disappointment in a letter sent by Archbishop Anthony Apuron to Immaculate Heart of Mary Pastor Father Mike Crisostomo.

The June 2nd letter notifies Father Mike that his parish fell short in its Archdiocesan Annual Appeal—a fundraising effort by the Archdiocese that is separate from the monthly parish assessment.

Local Catholic blogger with an international following Tim Rohr says this is the second year that the appeal has fallen significantly short of the Archdiocese’s goal.

“I sort of started a campaign, “no money until there’s accountability.” It seems to have worked because there was a tremendous shortfall in the appeal collections,” explains Rohr. “It’s the laity that have responded with “no transparency, no money” but the Archbishop is afraid of the laity. He knows he can’t get to us. He knows he doesn’t have authority over our lives like he does his priests. So he’s gonna do what he normally does which is pick on the people that he can pick on.”

Rohr says this is similar to the punishment that Father Paul Gofigan and Msgr. James Benavente received from the Archbishop for defying him. But this time Rohr says the people have had enough and will not stand for it.

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VATICAN CITY
Star Tribune

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press JUNE 10, 2015

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has taken the biggest step yet to crack down on bishops who cover up for priests who rape and molest children, creating a new tribunal section inside the Vatican to hear cases of bishops accused of failing to protect their flock.

The initiative has significant legal and theological implications, since bishops have long been considered masters of their dioceses and largely unaccountable when they bungle their job, with the Vatican stepping in only in cases of gross negligence.

That reluctance to intervene has prompted years of criticism from abuse victims, advocacy groups and others that the Vatican had failed to punish or forcibly remove bishops who moved predator priests around from parish to parish, where they could rape again, rather than report them to police or remove them from ministry. …

“Really pleased the Holy Father has approved our proposal,” commission member Marie Collins, herself a survivor of abuse, told The Associated Press in an email.

The main U.S. victims group SNAP was more cautious, noting that there are bishops currently in office who have delayed reporting abuse and yet no punishment has ever been meted out.

“In the face of this widespread denial, timidity and inaction, let’s be prudent, stay vigilant and withhold judgment until we see if and how this panel might act,” said SNAP’s David Clohessy. …

Terrence McKiernan, president of the online resource BishopAccountability.org, said the new tribunal was “a promising step” and that it was particularly significant that the Vatican was allocating senior staff and funds to it. But he said there were already several well-known cases of active bishops and cardinals who failed in their duty to protect children.

“This system will be coping with the complex interactions of enabling and offending that we see in cases involving bishops,” he said in a statement. “Priests abuse children and so do bishops — bishops who offend are inevitably enablers, and the commission’s plan must confront that sad fact.”

Canon law already does provide sanctions for bishops who are negligent in their duties, but the Vatican was never known to have meted out punishment for a bishop who covered up for an abuser.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

Pope Francis has approved the creation of an internal Church tribunal empowered to punish bishops who cover up sex abuse by priests.

Under the reform, bishops suspected of protecting pedophile clerics or of failing to respond promptly to allegations of abuse could face charges of ‘abuse of episcopal office’ under canon law, the Church’s internal set of rules.

The move comes after the credibility of the Church’s efforts to address the scourge of pedophilia was called into question amid fresh cover-up allegations involving Australian cardinal George Pell.

Pell, the Vatican’s finance chief, has been accused by Peter Saunders, a British member of the Vatican’s child protection commission, of being an ‘almost sociopathic’ man who covered up abuse and tried to buy the silence of at least one victim.

Pell has threatened legal action and has been supported by the Vatican but the Briton, a survivor of abuse by a priest, has refused to apologise.

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UNITED STATES
Newsday

By BART JONES bart.jones@newsday.com

Some advocates for sex-abuse victims on Wednesday hailed as a bold move Pope Francis’ creation of a new Vatican tribunal section to hear cases of bishops accused of failing to protect children from sexually abusive priests.

Others said it does not go far enough, and the Vatican should turn over any evidence of wrongdoing to prosecutors and law enforcement officials.

The pope’s decision, which the Vatican announced Wednesday, is the biggest action the Holy See has taken to hold bishops accountable since the priest abuse scandal came to light in 2002 after reports by The Boston Globe. The scandal rippled through the Catholic Church worldwide.

“I think it’s a wonderful step,” said Michael Dowd, a Manhattan-based attorney who has represented 175 alleged victims, including some on Long Island. “It will have a dramatic positive impact.”

David Clohessy of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priest (SNAP), however, said the measure doesn’t go far enough.

“It’s hard to get excited about yet another internal Vatican abuse panel,” Clohessy said. “While some might find this hopeful, prudent people will withhold judgment unless and until we see complicit bishops being defrocked, demoted or disciplined.”

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

06/10/2015

Jennifer Haselberger

Back in June of 2012, when the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis learned of the abuse committed by then-Father Curtis Wehmeyer, chancery officials, clergy, and other interested parties in the Archdiocese were forced to choose sides. Each individual had to choose if they would stand with the boys that had been harmed (along with all of the other individuals who had been hurt by acts of sexual abuse by clergy) or stand with the corrupt, unholy bureaucracy that the Chancery had become. The side one chose dictated one’s actions. You either pursued accountability and an almost revolutionary change in the system, or you tried to hide the administrative acts and omissions that led to the abuse. The decision was not academic, and it was not amoral. Siding with the ‘church’, if you will, meant ignoring or disregarding the suffering of the boys that had been harmed (and their family) and causing additional harm to them by forcing them to substantiate their allegations without support, leaving them without the resources necessary for their ongoing care, and reinforcing the idea that they had somehow deserved or otherwise been responsible for their own abuse.

For some of us, the June 2012 revelations marked a line drawn in the sand. Although convinced long before that the Archdiocese’s child protection efforts were a sham, without additional victims (victims that couldn’t be deemed ‘ not credible’, that is) those efforts couldn’t be called a failure. In June of 2012, however, the failure became obvious to everyone at 226 Summit, the corruption was palpable, and therefore continuing down the same path was no longer an option.

That line in the sand still exists, as does the need to choose sides. You either stand with the boys who have been harmed, or you stand with the Archdiocese. There is no middle road. If you don’t believe me, listen to the audio of last week’s press conference by the Ramsey County Attorney. At around the 7-minute mark the County Attorney praises those clergy and laity who ‘chose to reveal the truth despite its implications’…those who spoke about their knowledge of what occurred, and sadly what has been occurring for many years. The County Attorney spoke of the consequences those individuals could face, and their courage in coming forward. Implicit was a critique of those who have not cooperated, or who have responded to summons or requests for interviews with subterfuge and half-truths.

A close reading of the criminal complaint makes it obvious to those ‘in the know’ just who these individuals are. It also makes it obvious that the Chancery itself, while claiming to be cooperating, is only doing so in half measures. They might produce a memo or two, but then the third of the series will be missing. They might turn over one page of an email, but the other two pages (including that identifying the recipient) are claimed to be ‘privileged’ and not disclosed. And, it appears that they have not given investigators the Greene Espel report on the investigation into the Archbishop’s conduct. That report would be particularly relevant to the ongoing investigation, especially considering the information it contains regarding the history of Nienstedt’s relationship with Curtis Wehmeyer. Certainly had that document been produced it would have been referenced in the complaint.

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UNITED STATES
Religion News Service

David Gibson

(RNS) Pope Francis has approved the first-ever system for judging, and possibly deposing, bishops who fail to protect children from abusive clerics, a major step in responding to Catholics who have been furious that guilty priests have been defrocked while bishops have largely escaped punishment.

The five-point plan on accountability for bishops originated with the special sex abuse commission that Francis set up to deal with the ongoing crisis. After some modifications, his nine–member Council of Cardinals unanimously signed off on it this week and Francis gave his final blessing to it on Wednesday (June 10).

“Very pleased the Pope has approved the Commission’s proposal on accountability,” tweeted Marie Collins of Ireland, one of two victims of sex abuse by clergy who sit on the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

Peter Saunders of England, the other victim on the commission, also called the new system “good news,” telling the Catholic news site Crux that “this is a positive step that clearly indicates that Pope Francis is listening to his commission.”

Saunders’ support is especially notable because he has said that if the pope did not institute a reliable system for holding bishops’ feet to the fire he would leave the panel.

Saunders is also currently embroiled in an ugly verbal tussle with Cardinal George Pell, the pontiff’s top financial reformer, whom Saunders has accused of being “almost sociopathic” in his handling of clergy sex abuse when Pell served as a bishop in Australia. …

“Accountability necessarily involves consequences for wrongdoers. Whether a new, untested, Vatican-ruled process will mean consequences for wrongdoers remains to be seen,” said David Clohessy, director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

“This move will give hope to some,” Clohessy said. “But hope doesn’t safeguard kids. Punishing men who endanger kids safeguards kids. That should have happened decades ago. … That’s not happening now. And that must happen — strongly and soon — if the church is to be safer.”

A test case for the new system might be in Minnesota, after a county attorney last week filed criminal charges against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. The criminal charges were a first against an archdiocese, and allege that church leaders failed to protect children from molestation by a cleric. …

“The pope’s decision to hold bishops accountable for mishandling sex abuse cases is a long-overdue and indispensable step in fighting abuse,” said the Rev. James Martin, an editor at the Jesuit weekly America and a widely followed commentator on church affairs.

Until now, Catholic bishops have only been answerable directly to the pope, who has the sole power to appoint them and also to fire them.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
News Letter

Violent nuns treated children at a Belfast care home with hatred, an alleged victim has told the High Court.

Michael McKee, 65, claimed he was beaten with a leather strap for either wetting or failing to make his bed properly at Nazareth Lodge.

Telling a judge he was attacked on a daily basis after entering the institution back in 1958, he questioned whether the alleged perpetrators viewed him as “sub-human”.

Mr McKee is suing The Sisters of Nazareth over the physical abuse he claims to have been subjected to during his stay as an eight-year-old boy.

Lawyers for the congregation are defending the action by challenging the reliability of his account and questioning why he waited half a century.

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VATICANO
Yahoo! Noticias

O Papa Francisco autorizou o julgamento por “abuso de poder” dos bispos que acobertam os padres denunciados por abuso sexual de menores de idade ou pessoas frágeis, anunciou o Vaticano.

O pontífice ordenou a criação de um tribunal para estes casos, que será uma parte da Congregação para a Doutrina da Fé, explicou o porta-voz do Vaticano, padre Federico Lombardi.

O delito de “abuso de poder episcopal” foi revisado porque já existia no direito canônico, mas agora estão estabelecidos os mecanismos para abordar os casos, completou Lombardi.

Esta é uma reforma importante para mostrar o compromisso de Francisco na luta contra a pedofilia de religiosos.

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VATICAL CITY
Wall Street Journal

By FRANCIS X. ROCCA
June 10, 2015

ROME— Pope Francis ordered the establishment of a special court to try bishops for mishandling cases of clerical sex abuse, filling a widely decried gap in the Vatican’s approach to the problem.

The Vatican on Wednesday said the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which already holds responsibility for cases of sex abuse by priests, will also “judge bishops with regard to crimes of the abuse of office when connected to the abuse of minors.”

While the Vatican has disciplined hundreds of priests for sex abuse since the outbreak of scandals in the early 2000s, no pope has explicitly punished a bishop for failing to prevent or punish abuse committed by other clergy.

A number of bishops accused of mishandling such cases have resigned under a provision of church law calling for them to step down on account of “ill health or some other grave cause.” A prominent recent case was that of Bishop Robert W. Finn of Kansas City, Mo., who was convicted by a local court in 2012 for failing to report a priest who had produced child pornography. Bishop Finn resigned in April.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

‘Pope Punts; Backs Pell & Mueller Over O’Malley; Failed CDF To Get 5 Years To “Develop Proposals” To Judge Bishops On Child Abuse Crimes

Jerry Slevin

Pope Francis is conducting Vatican business as usual at the “old boys’ club”, it appears. Pope Francis has responded, in effect, to Peter Saunders’ attempt to get the illusory papal advisory “abuse commission” under Cardinal Sean O’Malley to hold Cardinal George Pell, Bishop Juan Barros and other bishops accountable for alleged child sexual abuse cover-up crimes. The pope has apparently passed the buck to his successor and evidently left the unaccountable bishops’ abuse scandal mess under its current failing Vatican set up.

In effect, the fundamentally flawed Congregation For the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) under Cardinal Gerhard Mueller and his tainted US Jesuit aide, Fr. Robert Geisinger, will continue to run the “abuse cover up zero tolerance show” as before. Geisinger is the Vatican’s current top prosecutor of abusive priests and had been implicated, along with several other Catholic officials, in allowing a notorious abusive priest to remain in ministry for years after learning of his long history of sexual abuses, legal documents show according to the Boston Globe. Geisinger’s efforts at the Vatican to date are neither impressive nor reasons for Catholic parents or survivors to hope the Vatican will ever police and reform itself effectively or transparently.

The director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., has indicated, in effect, that that Council of Cardinals (C9), with the pope participating, all unanimously (including the pope) approved five specific proposals {my italics}, namely:

It is proposed that:

“1. because the competence to receive and investigate complaints of the episcopal abuse of office belongs to the Congregations for Bishops, Evangelisation of Peoples, or Oriental Churches, there is the duty to report all complaints to the appropriate Congregation;

2. the Holy Father mandate the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to judge bishops with regard to crimes of the abuse of office when connected to the abuse of minors;

3. the Holy Father authorise the establishment of a new Judicial Section in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and appointment of stable personnel to undertake service in the Tribunal. The implementation of this decision would follow consultation with the prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith;

4. the Holy Father appoint a secretary to assist the prefect with the Tribunal. The secretary will be responsible for the new Judicial Section and the personnel of the section will also be available to the prefect for penal processes regarding the abuse of minors and vulnerable adults by clergy. This appointment will also follow the consultation with the prefect of the Congregation;

5. the Holy Father establish a five-year period for further development of these proposals and for completing a formal evaluation of their effectiveness; …” (emphasis mine).

So there you have it! After stalling on the abuse scandal for over two years, the pope has decided to stay with the same flawed team and passed the ultimate buck to whomever is pope in five years — likely Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Cardinal Angelo Sodano’s protege. This is about what I had expected and have tried to warn Catholics against since the pope was elected in March 2013.

Will all or any of the abuse commission members now resign? They have apparently been relegated to a mere academic study group status, no?

This development will likely have immediate negative implications for the Vatican, especially in the USA. For over three decades, the Vatican and US bishops have been close political allies of the US Republican party and its “low tax/lower regulation/least safety net” billionaire donors. For over two of those decades, the Vatican and its US bishops have had fundamental disagreements with the US Democratic party’s most prominent woman and current leading presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, as noted here.

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VATICAN CITY
Los Angeles Times

By TOM KINGTON

In a response to critics who charge that the Roman Catholic Church is dragging its feet on stopping child abuse, Pope Francis has created a tribunal at the Vatican to judge bishops accused of covering up for abusive priests.

Following a wave of scandals, from the United States to Australia, the church has begun to crack down on priests who sexually abuse children. However, activists say bishops who protect the priests continue to escape punishment.

Some bishops have been accused of simply moving priests to a new parish after they reportedly abuse children, only to see them commit the same offense again.

In a statement released Wednesday, the Vatican said a tribunal within its Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith would “judge bishops with regard to crimes of the abuse of office when connected to the abuse of minors.”

“The Congregation has never judged bishops for abuse of office; that needed authorization from the pope,” said Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi. “Now we have a regular procedure.”

The move is in response to suggestions made by a panel of experts, including past victims, that Francis appointed to advise him on how to safeguard against abuse.

American Cardinal Sean O’Malley, who heads the abuse commission, presented the proposal Monday to the group of nine cardinals advising Francis on reforming the Vatican’s sclerotic bureaucracy. The group approved the measure, as did Francis, who also provided funding to staff the tribunal.

The Vatican abuse commission has begun to make its voice heard since it was created last year.

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VATICAN CITY
NPR

Taking a new step toward holding bishops accountable for not protecting children who were sexually abused by priests, Pope Francis has set up a tribunal that will hear cases against senior clergy. But a victims’ group says the Vatican isn’t going far enough.

The move establishes “a new Judicial Section in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith,” the Vatican says, to investigate allegations of negligence of duty. The Holy See also set a five-year period for the program to be developed and evaluated.

From Rome, NPR’s Sylvia Poggioli reports:

“Decades of clerical sex abuse first emerged in Boston in 2002 and triggered a wave of revelations of scandals in the Catholic Church across the world.

“In case after case, known abusers were quietly moved by their superiors from parish to parish, instead of being handed over to the authorities.

“A Vatican statement said that Pope Francis had approved proposals made to him by the commission advising him on how to root out abuse of children by priests.

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TEXAS
Dallas Morning News

Rudolph Bush

It’s difficult still to go back and read the stories about the pedophile Rudy Kos, who damaged so deeply young boys when he was serving as a priest in the Catholic Diocese of Dallas.

I’m reminded by Dan Michalski’s 1998 story in D Magazine about just how many red flags were ignored so that Kos could be enrolled in Irving’s Holy Trinity Seminary – a place that, in that time, had turned away from the strict sexual discipline that is part and parcel of Roman Catholic priesthood.

Kos went to Holy Trinity long before Charles Grahmann became bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Dallas.

But Grahmann was in charge when the Kos scandal broke. He never read a file full of warnings on Kos and let the pedophile run a parish until 1992 despite continued warning of abuse. One of Kos’ victims, Jay Lemberger, committed suicide at age 20.

Then there was the case of Rev. Justin Lucio, who was removed from parish leadership after two young men said he pressured them into sex with promises of immigration help and threats he would turn them into the authorities.

Grahmann nevertheless had Lucio run a ministry for immigrants without oversight.

Grahmann didn’t resign until 2007, when he turned 75.

Thankfully, his successor, Bishop Kevin Farrell, understood the enormous threat pedophile priests pose, first to young people’s innocence and psychological health, but also to the faith and confidence of all Catholics.

Bishop Farrell has worked to make the diocese much more responsive to accusations of abuse, both in policy and practice.

But the entire Church needed more leadership on this critical problem.

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY, June 10 (Reuters) – Pope Francis approved on Wednesday an unprecedented Vatican department to judge bishops accused of covering up or not preventing sexual abuse of minors, in an attempt to meet a key demand by victims’ groups.

A statement said the department would come under the auspices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican’s doctrinal arm, “to judge bishops with regard to crimes of the abuse of office when connected to the abuse of minors”.

Victims’ groups have for years been urging the Vatican to establish clear procedures to make bishops more accountable for abuse in their dioceses, even if they were not directly responsible for it.

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi told reporters the bishops could also be judged if they had failed to take measures to prevent sexual abuse of minors.

The complaints against the bishops would be initially investigated by one of three Vatican departments, depending on under whose jurisdiction the bishops fall, before being judged by the doctrinal department.

“This development is potentially quite significant. For the first time there may be a clear road map for disciplining bishops who conceal or enable child sexual abuse,” said Anne Barrett Doyle of BishopAccountability.org, an independent group that helps tackle the issue in the Catholic Church.

“But the path already promises to be bumpy. How can the Vatican discipline enablers when its own top ranks are occupied by them?,” she told Reuters in an email.

She mentioned Australian Cardinal George Pell, who has been accused of covering up sexual abuse by a priest in the 1970s when Pell was a priest.

Pell, now head of the Vatican’s economic secretariat, has denied the accusations, saying he has always taken a strong stand against child abuse. He denies moving priests accused of abuse between parishes or offering one victim inducements to drop a complaint.

“Disciplining such powerful colleagues will be politically harrowing. But for the pope to make good on ‘bishop accountability’ this new program must begin at the top. Diocesan bishops cannot be expected to comply with standards that Vatican officials have ignored with impunity,” said Barrett Doyle.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
St. Louis Public Radio

By STEPHANIE LECCI & LINDA LOCKHART

As Catholic bishops from across the country gather in St. Louis this week for their annual Spring General Assembly meeting, many local Catholics are hoping church leaders discuss a wide array of issues.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ official agenda includes discussions on the state of the American family and marriage, ahead of an expected U.S. Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage.

While in St. Louis, the bishops also will receive an update ahead of Pope Francis’ visit in September to Philadelphia, as well as discuss the Pope’s upcoming encyclical on the environment and ecology.

The church leaders are also expected to talk about immigration reform, work on their quadrennial statement on political responsibility to be released ahead of the next general election, hear about ongoing work in Haiti, and learn of new digital resources available to bishops and diocese.

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VATICAN CITY
Deutsche Welle

Pope Francis has established a new tribunal with powers to judge bishops accused of covering up sexual abuse of minors. The move follows years of criticism that the church has failed to punish the guilty.

A statement from the Vatican said the pope would set up a new department that would examine the cases of bishops accused of covering up or failing to prevent child sex abuse by their priests.

The Vatican said Pope Francis had approved the proposals, aimed at making bishops more accountable, after they were put forward by his sexual abuse advisory board.

The statement said the office would be set up “to judge bishops with regard to crimes of the abuse of office when connected to the abuse of minors.”

The unit would be empowered to help prosecutors in criminal cases, the Vatican said.

Church accused of failure

Pope Francis’ decision follows years of complaint from victim groups who claim the Vatican has comprehensively failed to take measures against those who sexually abuse minors.

No bishop has ever been forcibly removed from office for protecting guilty clergy, although Francis did accept the resignation in April of a US bishop convicted of failing to report a suspected child abuser. An Irish bishop, John Magee, also tendered his resignation in 2010 amid allegations of him concealing the crimes of two priests in his diocese of Cloyne.

The Vatican said Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the head of Francis’ advisory commission, presented the proposals to Francis’ cardinal advisers. The panel, along with the Pope, approved the measures and authorized funding for full-time personnel to staff the new office

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VATIKAN
Sueddeutsche

Neue Gerichtssektion für Missbrauchsfälle

Lange hat sich die katholische Kirche dagegen gewehrt, sich mit Missbrauchsfällen in den eigenen Reihen auseinanderzusetzen. Der emeritierte Papst Benedikt XVI. war der erste Pontifex, der sich bei Missbrauchsopfern entschuldigt hatte. 400 Priester entließ er allein in den Jahren 2011 und 2012 wegen des Verdachts auf Kindesmissbrauch. Sein Nachfolger, Papst Franziskus, führt die Aufarbeitung fort.

Jetzt soll im Vatikan eine neue juristische Abteilung gegründet werden, um Amtsmissbrauchs-Beschwerden gegen Bischöfe zu prüfen. Dazu gehören auch Beschwerden gegen Kirchenmänner, die im Verdacht stehen, Fälle sexuellen Missbrauchs vertuscht zu haben. Der Papst habe einem entsprechenden Vorschlag der 2014 gegründeten Päpstlichen Kinderschutzkommission zugestimmt, hieß es in einer Mitteilung des Vatikans. Mit der neuen Institution soll auch ein eigener Sekretär für das Thema ernannt werden.

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VATIKAN
Zeit

Papst Franziskus hat der Schaffung eines Gerichts zur Ahndung der Vertuschung von Missbrauchsfällen durch Bischöfe zugestimmt. Das Oberhaupt der Katholischen Kirche folge einer Empfehlung des neu gegründeten Gremiums gegen sexuellen Missbrauch durch Geistliche, gab der Vatikan bekannt. Demnach soll im vatikanischen Strafrecht auch ein Tatbestand des “Missbrauchs des Bischofsamts” eingeführt werden.

Das neue Gericht soll bei der Glaubenskongregation angesiedelt sein und Bischöfe belangen können, die Fälle sexuellen Missbrauchs durch Geistliche in ihren Diözesen vertuscht haben. Dies fordern Missbrauchsopfer bereits seit Langem

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VATICAN CITY
The New York Times

By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO and LAURIE GOODSTEIN
JUNE 10, 2015

ROME — Roman Catholic bishops accused of covering up or failing to prevent the sexual abuse of children by priests will now be subject to judgment and discipline by a new Vatican tribunal, according to a plan approved on Wednesday by Pope Francis.

The decision is a measure that abuse victims have urged for years. The church has judicial procedures for judging priests accused of abuse, but until now bishops accused of negligence or cover-ups were almost never held accountable by the church itself.

The tribunal will also deal with the backlog of cases involving sexual abuse, “which are still very numerous,” a Vatican official said on Wednesday.

The issue of accountability has been under discussion for some time, said the Vatican’s chief spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi. “As you see, it didn’t remain on paper,” he said.

The Vatican announced on Wednesday that the pope had approved a series of proposals advanced by the committee that advises him on sexual abuse.

The proposals set out the procedures for examining complaints of abuse of office by bishops. The complaints will be first investigated by the congregations that the bishops belong to, and then will be judged by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which already reviews all cases of clergy accused of abusing minors.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, June 10

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

The Associated Press correctly reports that “the Vatican was never known to have meted out punishment for a bishop who covered up for an abuser.” Note the word “never.” Ponder this carefully before feeling hopeful about today’s Vatican move.

Again we remind everyone: The pope has virtually limitless power. By now, he could have sacked dozens of complicit bishops. He has, however, sacked no one. Nor has he demoted, disciplined or denounced even one complicit church official – from Cardinal to custodian. None of his predecessors did either. No prelate on the planet has even found the courage to say “Archbishop John Nienstedt shielded child molesting clerics.”

So in the face of this widespread denial, timidity and inaction, let’s be prudent, stay vigilant and withhold judgment until we see if and how this panel might act.

Imagine a huge oil company that had never disciplined a single manager and won’t admit it’s drilling offshore. If it sets up an internal panel to recommend possible manager discipline to its CEO, few would get excited.

That’s what we have here. Catholic officials have disciplined virtually no one for ignoring, concealing or enabling abuse, anywhere on the planet. And Catholic officials won’t admit there are deliberate cover ups, instead disingenuously claiming “mistakes,” “oversights,” and “miscommunication.”

If you can’t properly name a crisis, you’re likely unable to fix it.

Kids need a courageous church culture, not another church committee.

Kids need brave behavior by church officials, not more bureaucracy.

Kids need church members and staff to bring evidence to prosecutors, not to Vatican officials.

Church officials still fight civil lawsuits, criminal prosecutions, governmental investigations and independent institutions like the United Nations. So at one level, this looks again like an effort to stone-wall secular authorities, saying “Back off. Go away. We’re dealing with this internally.”

Accountability necessarily involves consequences for wrongdoers. Whether a new, untested, Vatican-ruled process will mean consequences for wrongdoers remains to be seen.

This move will give hope to some. But hope doesn’t safeguard kids. Punishing men who endanger kids safeguards kids. That should have happened decades ago. That should have happened days after Francis took action. That’s not happening now. And that must happen – strongly and soon – if the church is to be safer.

“The question of accountability for bishops who mishandle abuse cases has long been seen as the most unresolved issue in the church’s response to clergy sexual abuse,” writes the National Catholic Reporter.

That question remains unresolved.

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VATICAN CITY
The Australian

AAP JUNE 10, 2015

THE Vatican has agreed to share tax information with the United States in its latest move to improve the reputation of its scandal-marred bank and crack down on tax cheats.

VATICAN and US officials signed an agreement on Wednesday in which the Holy See committed to comply with a 2010 US law designed to encourage – some say force – foreign financial institutions to share information about US account holders with US tax authorities.

The aim is to make it more difficult for Americans to use overseas accounts to evade US taxes.
The Vatican bank has long been accused by Italian authorities of being an offshore tax haven.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Aoife Carr

Women who worked in the Magdalene laundries and remain resident in Ireland will get a medical card and other supports including home help, counselling and physiotherapy services free of charge from July 1st when the Redress for Women Who Were Resident in Certain Institutions Act comes into force.

Payments made by the State to the women will be exempt from means test criteria for services such as nursing home support and the women will not be charged for acute in-patient services.

Women living abroad who were in the launderies are not covered by the Bill and their access to equivalent medical services will be dealt with “on an administrative basis” by the Health Service
This is because of the “wide variation of different health systems internationally” according to the Department of Justice.

Announcing the commencement of the Act on Wednesday, Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald said the women would receive all the medical services recommended by Mr Justice Quirke in his report on the Magdalene Laundries.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

Pope Francis has created a new Vatican tribunal within the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) to deal with bishops who fail to protect children from being sexually abused by priests.

The announcement in Rome on Wednesday is seen as unpredendented and as a major success for the Vatican’s new Commission for the Protection of Minors.

The new office will be able to hold bishops to account for mishandling or covering up allegations of clerical child sex abuse. It will act as a tribunal to pass judgement on accused bishops “with regard to crimes of the abuse of office when connected to the abuse of minors.”

To date no Catholic bishop has been removed from office by the Vatican for his role in covering up clerical child sex abuse. Following publication in November 2009 of the Murphy report, which investigated the cover up of clerical child sex abuse in Dublin’s Catholic Archdiocese, the resignations of two Irish bishops were accepted by Rome. Prior to that, the resignation of Bishop of Ferns Brendan Comiskey in 2002, and in similar circumstances, was also accepted by Rome.

In April Pope Francis accepted the resignation of US Bishop of Kansas – St Joseph Robert Finn who had been convicted in the courts of failing to report clerical child sex abuse.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Holy See Press Office) In the afternoon session of 8 June 2015, the Council of Cardinals received a report from Cardinal Seán Patrick O’Malley, OFM Cap. with a proposal for the Holy Father regarding allegations of the abuse of office by a bishop connected to the abuse of minors, originally prepared by the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. Cardinal O’Malley’s report also included a proposal regarding allegations of sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable adults by clergy.

For each proposal, the report indicated the general terms which define it, issues relating to procedure and to the Tribunal which judges the cases, as well as the advantages of the proposal compared with other possible solutions. The text concludes with a list of five specific proposals made to the Holy Father, which are listed below. It is proposed:

1. That because the competence to receive and investigate complaints of the episcopal abuse of office belongs to the Congregations for Bishops, Evangelization of Peoples, or Oriental Churches there is the duty to report all complaints to the appropriate Congregation.

2. That the Holy Father mandate the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to judge bishops with regard to crimes of the abuse of office when connected to the abuse of minors.

3. That the Holy Father authorize the establishment of a new Judicial Section in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and appointment of stable personnel to undertake service in the Tribunal. The implementation of this decision would follow consultation with the Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

4. That the Holy Father appoint a Secretary to assist the Prefect with the Tribunal. The Secretary will have responsibility for the new Judicial Section and the personnel of the Section will also be available to the Prefect for penal processes regarding the abuse of minors and vulnerable adults by clergy. This appointment will also follow the consultation with the Prefect of the Congregation.

5. That the Holy Father establish a five-year period for further development of these proposals and for completing a formal evaluation of their effectiveness.

The Council of Cardinals agreed unanimously on these proposals and resolved that they be submitted to the Holy Father, Pope Francis. The Holy Father approved the proposals and authorized that sufficient resources will be provided for this purpose.

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VATICAN CITY
Malta Today

The Vatican has said that it will create a tribunal to hear cases of bishops accused of covering up child abuse by paedophile priests.

The move marks the biggest step yet the Vatican has taken to hold bishops accountable. No bishop has ever been forcibly removed for covering up for guilty clergy, although in April, Francis accepted the resignation of an American bishop who had been convicted of failing to report a suspected child abuser.

The Vatican said Wednesday that Pope Francis had approved proposals made by his sexual abuse advisory board.

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VATICAN CITY
Irish Independent

Pope Francis has created a new Vatican tribunal section to hear cases of bishops who fail to protect children from sexually abusive priests.

The move marks the biggest step yet the Vatican has taken to hold bishops accountable.

No bishop has ever been forcibly removed for covering up for guilty clergy, although in April, Francis accepted the resignation of a US bishop who had been convicted of failing to report a suspected child abuser.

The Vatican said that Francis had approved proposals made by his sexual abuse advisory board. They create a mechanism by which the Vatican can examine complaints of abuse of office by bishops and adjudicate them.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, June 10

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

At best, most church abuse panels have been ineffective distractions. At worst, they’ve been manipulative public relations moves We suspect this new one won’t make a difference either.

Throughout this decades-long crisis, church panels, procedures, protocols and promises have been plentiful. They’ve also been irrelevant. As long as clerics are in charge of dealing with other clerics who commit and conceal child sex crimes, little will change.

Church officials should join us in reforming secular abuse laws so that clerics who hurt kids and hide predators will be criminally charged. If that happens, we’ll be encouraged.

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VATICAN CITY
Zee News (India)

Vatican City: In a historic decision, Pope Francis on Wednesday gave the approval for setting up a tribunal where cases related to bishops, accused of covering up child abuse by priests, will be heard.

The decision was taken by the Pope after the recommendations made by his sexual abuse advisory board.

Barring the sole incident earlier this year in which a US bishop resigned after being convicted of failing to report a suspected child abuser, no other case is known in which a bishop has been removed for covering up a child abuse case, as per a news agency report.

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UNITED STATES
Washington Post

By Abby Ohlheiser and Michelle Boorstein June 10

The Vatican Wednesday announced the creation of a new tribunal for holding accountable bishops who fail to deal properly with clergy sexual abuse.

While the announcement didn’t appear to include new penalties for bishops, some sex abuse experts said it was significant that Pope Francis was firming up the oversight process of bishops, who are traditionally granted wide-ranging powers and autonomy over the affairs in their region.

The new structure will be inside the Vatican’s doctrine-enforcing arm – considered perhaps the most powerful body within the church.

“It’s a major thing because it’s putting bishops on notice. It’s saying: ‘If you don’t deal with this you have to face the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith,’ and no one wants to face the CDF,” said Monsignor Stephen Rossetti, a psychologist and professor at the Catholic University of America who used to head St. Luke’s Institute- a key treatment center for priest-offenders.

Rossetti called the issue of accountability for bishops who oversee or cover up abusers “the cutting edge” for the church. Long ago, he noted, popes established that abusers had committed the “gravest of crimes … but I think it’s true that this issue of accountability [for their bishop-bosses] was not as nailed down. This nails it down very clearly.”

The proposal was submitted to the pope by a high-level body he created to suggest improvements in dealing with abusers and their superiors. While the topic exploded in the United States more than a decade ago, it is just erupting around the world, particularly in developing countries. While the U.S. system built in the past decade to prevent abuse is highly praised, bishops who moved around abusers are still rarely held accountable at all.

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VATICAN CITY
The Guardian

Reuters in Vatican City
Wednesday 10 June 2015

Pope Francis has approved an unprecedented Vatican department to judge bishops accused of covering up or not preventing sexual abuse of children, meeting a key demand by victims’ groups.

A statement said the department would come under the auspices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican’s doctrinal arm, “to judge bishops with regard to crimes of the abuse of office when connected to the abuse of minors”.

Victims groups have for years been urging the Vatican to establish clear procedures to make bishops more accountable for abuse in their dioceses, even if they were not directly responsible for it.

Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi told reporters the bishops could also be judged if they had failed to take measures to prevent sexual abuse of minors.

The complaints against the bishops would be initially investigated by one of three Vatican departments, depending on whose jurisdiction the bishops fall under, before being judged by the doctrinal department.

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VATICAN CITY
Belfast Telegraph

BY CLAIRE CROMIE – 10 JUNE 2015

Pope Francis has created a Vatican tribunal to hear cases of bishops accused of covering up child abuse by paedophile priests

The announcement marks the biggest step ever taken by the Catholic Church to hold bishops to account.

No bishop has ever been forcibly removed for covering up for guilty clergy, although in April, Francis accepted the resignation of a US bishop who had been convicted of failing to report a suspected child abuser.

The Vatican said that Francis had approved proposals made by his sexual abuse advisory board. They create a mechanism by which the Vatican can examine complaints of abuse of office by bishops and adjudicate them.

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VATICAN CITY
BBC News

Pope Francis has approved the creation of a tribunal to hear cases of bishops accused of covering up child abuse by paedophile priests.

The unprecedented move followed a recommendation from the Pope’s newly-created panel on clerical sex abuse.

Victims’ groups have long called for the Vatican to do more to make bishops accountable for abuse on their watch.

Last year, the UN strongly criticised the Vatican for failing to stamp out child abuse and for allowing cover-ups.

A statement from the Vatican said the department would come under the auspices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 10 June 2015 (VIS) – The director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., gave a briefing this morning on the work of the tenth meeting of the Council of Cardinals, which began on Monday and concluded this morning in the Domus Sanctae Marthae. The Holy Father attended all the sessions, both morning and afternoon, on Monday and Tuesday; however as usual he did not participate in this morning’s session due to the Wednesday general audience.

Cardinal Laurent Mosengwo Pasinya was unable to attend the meeting.

The first day was dedicated largely to the examination of the draft Preamble of the new Constitution, which will be further elaborated.

With regard to financial and economic reform, Cardinal Pell, prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, presented a report with updated information on the financial reforms. He mentioned the appointment of the new Auditor General, the approval of the new Statute for Pension Funds and the completion of the list of bodies subject to the control and supervision of the Council for the Economy, in accordance with its Statutes. He also referred to three new initiatives of the Council for the Economy, constituting three working groups: one for the analysis of income and investments; one for human resources management, and a third for the study of the existing IT systems, their compatibility and their efficiency. He concluded by reporting on the progress of the various current activities of the Secretariat for the Economy.

In the afternoon session of 8 June 2015, the Council of Cardinals received a report from Cardinal Sean Patrick O’Malley, OFM Cap. with a proposal for the Holy Father regarding allegations of the abuse of office by a bishop connected to the abuse of minors, originally prepared by the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. Cardinal O’Malley’s report also included a proposal regarding allegations of sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable adults by clergy.

For each proposal, the report indicated the general terms which define it, issues relating to procedure and to the competent Tribunal, as well as the advantages of the proposal compared with other possible solutions. The text concludes with a list of five specific proposals made to the Holy Father, which are listed below. It is proposed that:

1. because the competence to receive and investigate complaints of the episcopal abuse of office belongs to the Congregations for Bishops, Evangelisation of Peoples, or Oriental Churches, there is the duty to report all complaints to the appropriate Congregation;

2. the Holy Father mandate the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to judge bishops with regard to crimes of the abuse of office when connected to the abuse of minors;

3. the Holy Father authorise the establishment of a new Judicial Section in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and appointment of stable personnel to undertake service in the Tribunal. The implementation of this decision would follow consultation with the prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith;

4. the Holy Father appoint a secretary to assist the prefect with the Tribunal. The secretary will be responsible for the new Judicial Section and the personnel of the section will also be available to the prefect for penal processes regarding the abuse of minors and vulnerable adults by clergy. This appointment will also follow the consultation with the prefect of the Congregation;

5. the Holy Father establish a five-year period for further development of these proposals and for completing a formal evaluation of their effectiveness;

The Council of Cardinals agreed unanimously on these proposals and resolved that they be submitted to the Holy Father, Pope Francis, who approved the proposals and authorised the provision of sufficient resources for this purpose.

In the morning of 9 June the Council of Cardinals heard a report given by Msgr. Dario Vigano, director of the Vatican Television Centre and president of the Commission for Vatican communications instituted by the Holy Father Francis on 23 April 2015 (made public on 30 April), and expressed its unanimous approval of the feasibility study conducted by the same Commission.

Starting from the analyses and reports of McKinsey and the previous commissions (COSEA and the Vatican Media Commission chaired by Lord Chris Patten), the current Commission presented a plan for reform to be implemented over a four-year period, ensuring the protection of staff and a gradual integration of institutions. These are the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, the Holy See Press Office, Vatican Radio, the Vatican Television Centre, the Osservatore Romano, the Photographic Service, the Vatican Publishing House, the Vatican Typography and the Internet Office.

The Council of Cardinals expressed a positive judgement to the Holy Father, also in relation to the expected time span. The constitution of the dicastery will be drafted, and the necessary appointments made during the coming months to enable the process to be initiated. The Commission is currently continuing its work, which has yet to be completed.

On Wednesday morning, the Council heard a communique from Fr. Michael Czerny of the Pontifical Council “Justice and Peace” regarding the Holy Father’s new encyclical and the preparation for its publication. Fr. Czerny explained that, at the Pope’s behest, emails will be sent, introduced by a letter from Cardinal Turkson, to inform ordinaries throughout the world of the upcoming publication of the encyclical and to provide suggestions and assistance on the teaching and previous interventions by the Pope on the theme of the environment. It is hoped that this will allow individual bishops and episcopates to prepare for the new document and to accompany it with appropriate explanations and comments, so as to ensure that the publication of the encyclical is experienced as an important event in the life of the universal Church and in communion with the Holy Father.

The next meeting of the Council of Cardinals is scheduled for 14 to 16 September.

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VATICAN CITY
Panorama

Pope Francis Wednesday approved an unprecedented Vatican department to judge bishops accused of covering up or not preventing sexual abuse of minors, meeting a key demand by victims’ groups, Reuters reports.

A statement said the department would come under the auspices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican’s doctrinal arm, “to judge bishops with regard to crimes of the abuse of office when connected to the abuse of minors.”

Victims groups have for years been urging the Vatican to establish clear procedures to make bishops more accountable for abuse in their dioceses, even if they were not directly responsible for it.

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VATICAN CITY
Bristol Herald Courier

Associated Press

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has created a new Vatican tribunal section to hear cases of bishops accused of failing to protect children from sexually abusive priests, the biggest step the Holy See has taken yet to hold bishops accountable.

For years, the Vatican has been criticized by victims, advocacy groups and others for having failed to ever punish or forcibly remove a bishop who covered up for clergy who raped or molested children. In April, Francis accepted the resignation of a U.S. bishop who had been convicted of failing to report a suspected child abuser, but that wasn’t a forced removal.

The Vatican said Wednesday that Francis had approved proposals made by his sexual abuse advisory board. They create a mechanism by which the Vatican can receive and examine complaints of abuse of office by bishops and adjudicate them.

A special new judicial section will be created inside the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith “to judge bishops with regard to crimes of the abuse of office when connected to the abuse of minors,” a Vatican statement said.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Jun. 10, 2015

VATICAN CITY Pope Francis has approved the outline of a new system of accountability for Catholic bishops who do not appropriately handle accusations of clergy sexual abuse, in what could be a breakthrough moment on an issue that has plagued the church globally.

Proposed by Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley at the behest of the pope’s commission on clergy sexual abuse, the system gives power to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to judge bishops “with regard to crimes of the abuse of office when connected to the abuse of minors.”

It would also see the establishment of a new office at the congregation to undertake work as a tribunal to judge such bishops.

Such a system will be a first at the Vatican, where bishops have long held near impunity with regard to their actions or inactions on clergy sexual abuse. In the Catholic church, only the pope can fire prelates — a process that, if it ever occurs, normally takes years or even decades.

Vatican spokesman Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi said that while that firing power ultimately remains with Francis, the pope accepts the decisions of those he puts in such tribunal offices.

“If the pope says that [this is] the judgment and the competence of the tribunal, then normally the pope accepts the judgment of the tribunal,” said Lombardi, responding to a question from NCR at a press conference Wednesday announcing the new system.

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UNITED STATES
Jewish Daily Forward

Deborah Rosenbloom (JTA)
June 9, 2015

When I read the recent article in The New York Times detailing the accusations against Rabbi Jonathan Rosenblatt of the Riverdale Jewish Center, I was deeply saddened.

This is the synagogue and community where I grew up. My parents moved to Riverdale in the 1950s and are among the RJC’s founding members. Rosenblatt — like the synagogue’s four rabbis before him — played an important part in the life of my family. However, my focus is not the RJC or any one rabbi.

My concerns are with the institutions in which we place our trust — institutions that seem to ignore the simple fact that rabbis and teachers are human and subject to temptations and personal demons. We hold our leaders in high esteem, but our institutions fail to monitor them to ensure that their power is not being abused and that the esteem is merited.

Whispers, like those in Riverdale, have been present in dark corners of many communities over the years. Those whispers have been hushed by men and women who choose to protect the institution to the detriment of those it’s supposed to serve. This is what happened at Penn State, which ignored or mishandled numerous episodes over the years in which football coach Jerry Sandusky sexually abused children. Our leaders often demonstrate poor judgment, pretending that if they ignore the underlying problem or handle it quietly among themselves the behavior will stop and the problems disappear.

But today social media amplifies whispers. Victims hear the whispers of other victims, awareness grows, and what happens behind closed doors is exposed and headlined. I have seen this in my work at Jewish Women International — on college campuses, on football fields, even in the military. Victims are speaking out.

Related: Don’t Blame the Sauna Rabbi — Blame Orthodox Mentality

Our synagogues and rabbinical institutions need to wake up. Responding in secret or in an ad hoc manner — being reactive — does not work. This modus operandi inhibits response, discussion and community resolution. Secret “solutions” end up being neither secret nor solutions.

Instead, we repeatedly see the accused relying on his or her relationships with powerful supporters, and together they spread the fear of public revelation of scandal. Time and again, the message to the victims and communities is that only with silence can the institution be protected. That is another way of saying that those who are victimized are less important than the institution itself.

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NEW YORK
Riverdale Press

The Riverdale Jewish Center executive committee’s June 9 letter to congregants.

By Shant Shahrigian
Posted 6/10/15

Riverdale Jewish Center’s (RJC) board appears to be on the way to ousting Rabbi Jonathan Rosenblatt following recent revelations he took boys to a sauna naked over a period of years.

After a Monday night board meeting and vote about how to handle the situation, RJC’s executive committee on Tuesday sent a letter to congregants stating in part: “We discussed the ongoing challenges and the profound impact on our shul community. The Board ultimately concluded that, in view of all these circumstances, the best course of action would be to achieve an amicable resolution with Rabbi Rosenblatt, and we are constructively engaged in discussions to that end.”

Yesterday, RJC President Samson Fine and other board members did not answer phone and e-mail inquiries seeking clarification about the Monday night vote. On Tuesday, The Jewish Weekly cited unnamed sources as saying the board had voted 34-8 “to seek a financial settlement with the rabbi and for him to step down.”

The board vote followed growing discontent among RJC members. On Sunday, at least 44 of them e-mailed Rabbi Rosenblatt a petition calling on him to resign. They wrote that the 30-year-long leader of the synagogue “is unfortunately but irrevocably unable to lead our community.”

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NEW YORK
Jewish Daily Forward

The Riverdale Jewish Center reportedly is seeking to get rid of Rabbi Jonathan Rosenblatt, whose habit of inviting young males to join him for naked heart-to-heart talks in the sauna was the subject of a recent article in The New York Times.

In a meeting Monday night, the board of directors of Rosenblatt’s Orthodox synagogue voted 34-8 to seek a financial settlement to get Rosenblatt to resign his pulpit position, the N.Y. Jewish Week reported. Though Rosenblatt’s unusual behavior long was known in his synagogue community, the board surmised that the publicity that now surrounds Rosenblatt would make it impossible for him to fulfill his rabbinic duties at the 700-member shul and therefore it is preferable that he step down, the newspaper reported.

The Times story that prompted the firestorm focused on Rosenblatt’s custom of inviting male congregants or students, some as young as 12, to play squash or racquetball, then join him in the public shower and sauna or steam room, often naked. No one cited in the story accused Rosenblatt of sexual touching, but several expressed their discomfort with the practice and described the behavior as deeply inappropriate for a rabbi and mentor. At various times, Rosenblatt was told by rabbinic bodies or his congregation’s board to limit such activity.

Rosenblatt says he is innocent of any crime. The Bronx district attorney’s office said it is looking into whether any crime was committed and has urged victims to come forward.

In a letter sent last week to congregants , Rosenblatt did not acknowledge any inappropriate behavior but said, “If any of you feel that my behavior, even if innocent, was inappropriate, I apologize to those affected.”

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NEW YORK
Haaretz

JTA

At least 44 members of a New York synagogue are calling for the resignation of their rabbi, whose custom of inviting young men to meet with him naked in a sauna has brought extensive media attention.

In an email petition sent Sunday, members of the Riverdale Jewish Center, an Orthodox congregation in the Bronx, urged Rabbi Jonathan Rosenblatt to resign, the Riverdale Press reported.

“We in Riverdale have had a grueling week, trying to manage the crisis that has engulfed our community. It is now clear beyond a shadow of a doubt that our rabbi of almost thirty years, Rabbi Jonathan Rosenblatt, is unfortunately but irrevocably unable to lead our community,” the email says, according to the Press.

The petition comes in the aftermath of a recent New York Times article about Rosenblatt’s longtime custom of inviting male congregants, some as young as 12, to play squash or racquetball, then join him in the public shower and sauna or steam room, often naked. No one cited in the story accused Rosenblatt of sexual touching, but several expressed their discomfort with the practice and described the behavior as deeply inappropriate for a rabbi and mentor.

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VATICAN CITY
Financial Times

The Vatican has agreed to implement US legislation designed to curb offshore tax evasion, offering further evidence of the desire of Pope Francis to clean up the finances of the Catholic Church and stamp out the Holy See’s reputation as a haven for illicit activity.

In what was dubbed a “historic event” by Archbishop Richard Gallagher, the equivalent of the Vatican’s foreign minister, the Holy See signed a deal to apply within its walls the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (Fatca), enacted by president Barack Obama in 2010.

James Politi reports that the agreement – the first intergovernmental deal between the US and the Vatican – will force the Institute for Religious Works (IoR), also known as the Vatican Bank, to transmit information on accounts held by American taxpayers in the city-state back to US authorities.

In implementing Fatca, the Vatican joins just 62 other countries that have such deals with the US – while many others have resisted the pressure to comply.

In a statement, the Archbishop said:

As Pope Francis frequently reminds us, evading just taxes is stealing both from the State and from the poor.

Every person has in fact the duty to contribute, in charity and justice, to the common good, according to his own abilities and the needs of others, by promoting and assisting the public institutions dedicated to bettering the conditions of human life.

Meanwhile, Kenneth Hackett, US ambassador to the Holy See, said the deal would help forge a “stronger, more stable, and more accountable global financial system”.

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VATICAN CITY
Europe Online

Vatican City (dpa) – The Vatican said Wednesday it had signed an anti-tax evasion deal with the United States, agreeing to share information on assets held by US citizens within Vatican walls.

“This agreement […] underscores the commitment of both parties to promote and ensure ethical behaviour in the financial and economic fields,” a joint statement by the Holy See and the US said.

The Vatican‘s official newspaper, L‘Osservatore Romano, said that even though the agreement affects a “relatively limited number of persons,” it was of “great importance” as it underscores the Holy See efforts to “promote ethics and integrity in economics and finance.”

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

[with audio]

(Vatican Radio) The Holy See and the U.S. have signed a first-ever inter-governmental economic accord aimed at fighting tax evasion. Vatican Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Paul Gallagher – acting also on behalf of the Vatican City State – and the U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See, Kenneth Hackett, signed the agreement in the Vatican on Wednesday.

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VATICAN CITY
The Guardian

Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Rome

Wednesday 10 June 2015

The Vatican bank will automatically report information about American holders of its accounts to US tax authorities under an agreement signed on Wednesday that the American ambassador to the Holy See said was a “very significant step” to combating tax evasion.

The agreement – the first inter-governmental deal between the Vatican and the US – was hailed as a “type of stamp of approval” of the Vatican bank’s efforts to be more transparent, said the US ambassador, Kenneth Hackett.

The bank, which is formally known as the Institute for Works of Religion, has been dogged for years by accusations that it has helped launder money for rich Italians, among others, who were seeking to evade taxes and carry out other illicit activity. It began a clean-up process at the end of Pope Benedict’s tenure, following intense pressure by the Bank of Italy, which essentially sought to cut the bank off from working with other banks in Italy if it did not change its ways and adopt internationally recognised anti-money laundering regulations.

Pope Francis has also put financial reform at the top of his agenda, and the bank has spent millions of euros on consultants, including US advisory firm Promontory Financial Group, in its effort to implement a modern compliance programme and weed out problematic accounts.

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VATICAN CITY
Philly.com

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
POSTED: Wednesday, June 10, 2015

VATICAN CITY (AP) – The Vatican has agreed to share tax information with the United States in its latest move to improve the reputation of its scandal-marred bank and crack down on tax cheats.

Vatican and U.S. officials signed an agreement Wednesday in which the Holy See committed to comply with a 2010 U.S. law designed to encourage – some say force – foreign financial institutions to share information about U.S. account holders with U.S. tax authorities. The aim is to make it more difficult for Americans to use overseas accounts to evade U.S. taxes.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Jun. 10, 2015

VATICAN CITY The U.S. and the Holy See have signed a joint measure to reduce tax evasion by American individuals holding money at the so-called Vatican bank, in what officials said is the first such inter-governmental agreement between the country and the city-state.

Under the new measure, signed Wednesday by U.S. Ambassador Ken Hackett and Vatican Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Holy See has agreed to automatically report information on Vatican bank accounts held by American citizens.

While neither U.S. nor Holy See officials would identify how many American individuals hold money at the Vatican, the number is assumed to be rather small, perhaps in the dozens.

Hackett, the American ambassador to the Holy See, told reporters at a briefing Wednesday morning that the move was “a type of stamp of approval” of the improvements the once scandal-plagued Vatican financial structure has made in recent years.

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VATICAN CITY
Bolletino

June 10, 2015 – Today, the Holy See’s Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, and the U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See, Kenneth F. Hackett, signed an historic agreement between the Holy See (acting also in the name and on behalf of the Vatican City State) and the United States of America to improve international tax compliance and exchange of tax information in view of the U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).

This agreement – which is the first formal inter-governmental agreement between the Holy See and the United States – underscores the commitment of both parties to promote and ensure ethical behavior in the financial and economic fields. In particular, this agreement will prevent tax evasion and facilitate the compliance of fiscal duties by those U.S. Citizens who conduct financial activities in Vatican City State.

Ensuring the payment of taxes and preventing tax evasion are of crucial economic importance for every community since adequate tax revenues and public spending are indispensable for governments to become instruments of development and solidarity, to encourage employment growth, to sustain business and charitable activities, and to provide systems of social insurance and assistance designed to protect the weakest members of society.

In a context of economic globalization, it is therefore essential to strengthen the exchange of information with the view to prevent tax evasion. The present agreement is thus based on the most up-to-date global standards to curtail offshore tax evasion through the automatic exchange of tax information.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

WASHINGTON—The 2015 Spring General Assembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) will be broadcast via satellite from St. Louis, June 10-11, to Catholic television outlets and all broadcasters wishing to air it. The satellite feed will run Wednesday, June 10, (10:15 a.m.-4:15 p.m. Eastern), and Thursday, June 11, (9:15 a.m.-12:45 p.m. Eastern). Media conferences will follow open sessions of the meeting.

The proceedings will also be live streamed at www.usccb.org/about/leadership/usccb-general-assembly/index.cfm. News updates, addresses and other materials will be posted on this page. For those wishing to follow the proceedings on social media, updates from the meeting will be live tweeted at http://twitter.com/USCCBLive with the hashtag #USCCB15. Updates will also appear at www.facebook.com/usccb.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

“Bishops are backsliding,” victims say
Group blasts prelates as they meet here
SNAP releases list of accused priests are still on the job
Three of the alleged predators are working in St. Louis
One admits molesting child & another faces three accusers
Victims: “Bishops must train their flocks to respond better”
When abuse reports surface, many parishioners “rally around the accused”

WHAT
As hundreds of US Catholic bishops gather for their annual meeting, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will

–reveal a list of 12 alleged pedophile priests who are still on the job (including 3 in St. Louis),
–accuse bishops of “backsliding” on their pledge to quickly oust accused predator priests, and

urge bishops to

–stop parishioners from rallying around alleged child molesting clerics and
–train their flock to react appropriately when child sex abuse reports surface

WHEN
Wednesday, June 10 at 1:00 p.m.

WHERE
On the northeast corner of Chestnut & Fourth, outside the Hyatt, in downtown St. Louis MO

WHO
Three-four adults who belong to a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (including two of the organization’s long-time leaders)

VISUALS
They will also hold signs and childhood photos.

WHY
On Friday, the St. Paul archdiocese was charged with endangering kids by keeping a now-convicted predator priest on the job long after accusations of sexual misdeeds had been made about him. SNAP contends these charges (and the convictions of top church officials in Kansas City and Philadelphia) show bishops are backsliding from their pledge to quickly remove credibly accused predator priests.

Last month, a high profile Hispanic priest was sued for allegedly molesting a child. He works for both Notre Dame and the San Antonio archdiocese. Similarly, on Long Island, a priest was sued in January for alleged child sex crimes by the nation’s most experienced clergy abuse attorney but is still a pastor. Neither cleric was even temporarily suspended.

As the public tires of the on-going clergy abuse and cover up crisis, and as the priest shortage continues, SNAP believes more bishops are gradually refusing to suspend credibly accused child molesting clerics, thus endangering kids and rebuffing victims.

Three accused priests are still working in St. Louis: Fr. Vincent Bryce, Fr. Alex Anderson and Fr. Bruce H. Forman. Bryce is at the Aquinas Institute on the edge of St. Louis University. Anderson and Forman are pastors of parishes in DeSoto and Soulard respectively.

SNAP will call on bishops to honor the pledges they’ve made for decades (and they formalized in 2002 at a summer meeting like this one) by immediately suspending alleged predator priests.

Dioceses teach staff how to report abuse and kids how to stop abuse. But no diocese or church entity teaches parishioners how to respond appropriately when abuse reports arise (whether against clerics, choir directors or school personnel) arise. Because most predators are charming and charismatic, many times church-goers publicly rally around accused child molesters. This intimidates and depresses other victims, witnesses and whistleblowers from speaking up, exposing wrongdoers and safeguarding children.

SNAP will urge bishops to provide formal training to parishioners on how to support accused priests in ways that do not deter others from reporting known or suspected abuse.

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UNITED STATES
Chicago Sun-Times

WRITTEN BY NEIL STEINBERG

It stays submerged.

We glimpse it, then turn away as it disappears again. But it always comes back.

A popular TV show implodes. We chatter about its fallen star. No sooner does the scandal start to fade, however, when a new one emerges: this one the former Speaker of the House, accusing of paying a fortune to hush up decades-old accusations.

Dennis Hastert’s cash kept it quiet for years. Josh Duggar, reality TV star of “19 Kids and Counting,” eked out a dozen.

Their secret shame becomes fertile ground for public comment and eventual remorse. Hastert admits no wrongdoing, yet. Duggar does. “I acted inexcusably” he says. And TLC, to its credit, doesn’t excuse him but yanks the hit show amidst generally half indignant, half amused clucking about the frequent hypocrisy of those who flaunt their superior standards.

Each case is easy to chatter about. Alexandra Petri of the Washington Post trenchantly observed how the Duggar crime is “a reminder of how badly the cult of purity lets victims down,” portraying them as ruined bikes, cups of spit, chewed gum, as if their entire value lay in their sexuality. As with priests, when there are no sexual outlets, it’s sometimes sought in the wrong places.”

“When all sexuality is a sin, when even holding hands is off limits, there isn’t a clear line between permissible, healthy forms of exploration and acts that are impermissible to anyone, not just the particularly devout,” she writes. “This gospel of shame and purity has the potential to be incredibly harmful because it does away with important lines.”

True enough. But there’s much more to this than specific scandal, much more than further evidence of how dysfunctional the devout can be. We analyze individual cases, the life of one politician or one TV star, looking from one tree to the next without ever seeing the forest. Without ever realizing we should start talking about the tremendous toll that sexual and physical abuse takes on our general society right now, today, and into the foreseeable future. The true scandal isn’t what Dennis Hastert might have done to boys at Yorkville High School or what Josh Duggar did to five girls. The scandal is how frequently this sort of thing, and far worse, happens.

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NEW YORK
Frum Follies

Yesterday I reported on the 1 year jail sentence of Menachem Tewel (aka Mendy Tevel) on charges of oral sex with a minor. Jewish Community Watch has posted the text he used in making a statement to the court just before sentencing. The victim, now a married young adult, spoke eloquently about the persistent harm of abuse including PTSD, difficulties in intimacy and other after effects.

He also spoke about the various attempts to intimidate him out of going forward in pressing his charges. According to his statement:

I’ve been cheered for by many and harassed by many. It seems everyone I met, had their 2 cents to add. Some felt I was doing the right thing and was a hero and others felt that if the defendant went to jail, he would surely be killed and that would be on my conscience. Some even went as far as to call me and my family ‘murderers’.

During the last few months leading up this day, some have tried to threaten or bribe me to drop the charges. I was offered $200,000 to sign documents stating that I consented to and requested the sexual activity and therefore it was not abuse. Others have tried the other approach, threatening me that they have 4 girls willing to testify that I raped them and they will come forward after the sentencing. I have been threatened to have my name smeared publicly in our community to the point that my wife and I would “literally” be unable to walk the streets. Some have gone as far as to approach my wife and attempt to convince her to leave me.

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NEW YORK
Jewish Community Watch

Posted on June 9, 2015

My name is …….. …… and I am the victim of sexual abuse. The man who abused me is named Mendel. I met him when he was my dorm counselor at a boy’s yeshiva. He took advantage of the position of authority he had over me and used it to physically and sexually abuse me. I went through horrific ordeals at his hands that has left me scarred until this day.

One way in which I’ve coped with the abuse was to drink alcohol. Some even mistook me for an alcoholic when in fact drinking was just a way I drowned out the pain of my experiences. Over the last few years, I’ve met many people who were also sexually abused and victimized at the hands of someone else. It happens way more than many of us would like to believe. I’ve also found out that the challenges I’ve dealt with are very typical of victims of sexual abuse.

For example, I often have flashbacks, sleepless nights or nightmares. At times, and this is very personal but I feel like I must say it, it is difficult for me to be intimate with my wife. It can trigger a flashback I am absolutely powerless to stop. This greatly effects our marriage but I am lucky to have a strong and supportive wife who has stood lovingly by my side throughout this ordeal.

On numerous occasions, she has had to wake up to me having a full blown panic attack in my sleep. I know these are common symptoms for victims of abuse but that does not make it any easier to deal with.

Sometimes, when leaving my home, I am fearful that I may bump into my abuser, Mendel, while walking. After all, we grew up on the same street and his Family live nearby to my own.

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CHILE
ACI Prensa

[The Community of the Schoenstatt Fathers in Chile issued a statement in which they announced the start of a canonical process after the “indictment against Father Francisco Mendez for allegations of abuse of authority and sexual abuse.]

SANTIAGO, 09 Jun. 15 / 11:04 pm (ACI).- La Comunidad de los Padres de Schoenstatt en Chile emitió un comunicado en el que informó del inicio de un proceso canónico tras la “acusación formal contra el padre Francisco Basáñez Méndez por situaciones de abuso de autoridad y abuso sexual, que habrían ocurrido entre 2002 y 2005”.

En el comunicado, con fecha 3 de junio de 2015, se señala que la acusación fue “inmediatamente acogida, conforme a nuestros procedimientos y protocolos, y entre marzo y mayo de este año se realizó la investigación previa correspondiente para verificar la verosimilitud de estas acusaciones. Se tomaron, asimismo, las medidas cautelares necesarias y se dio aviso a la autoridad eclesiástica de la Arquidiócesis”.

La misiva fue publicada en el sitio web de los Padres de Schoenstatt y está firmada por su Superior Provincial, P. Mariano Irureta, quien sostiene que durante la investigación el sacerdote en cuestión “ha sido separado de toda actividad pública y pastoral. A partir del mes pasado, se ha dado comienzo al proceso canónico correspondiente, para determinar su responsabilidad en los abusos que se le imputan”.

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UNITED STATES
Roll to Disbelieve

by Captain Cassidy

We’re still reeling from the Duggar sex abuse scandal, but on the heels of it comes another involving Christian leaders totally misreading a child-abuse situation and handling it in the poorest, most tone-deaf way possible. Another day, another fundagelical scandal involving sex abuse. I know–weird, isn’t it? The group claiming a monopoly on morality and so busy trying to paint gay people as pedophiles eager to prey upon children seems to have a real problem with sheltering the sex abusers and attackers in their very own midst who are preying upon children. It’s just sooooo baffling!

A few days ago, a Christian woman attending a Dallas megachurch called The Village Church (TVC, which is a Southern Baptist group though they seem to be downplaying that like a lot of SBC churches are nowadays) discovered that her very very Christian husband was way into child pornography. And shockingly, that discovery was only the start of an unimaginable ordeal for her.

When she realized what her husband was doing, Karen Hinkley immediately applied for an annulment of the marriage–not a divorce, mind you; an annulment means that the marriage wasn’t actually valid in the first place. Even Catholic leaders are okay with annulments. The result of an annulment is that it’s as if the marriage never happened at all, and both parties are left as if they’d never married in the first place. That means any children born during the fraudulent union might suddenly find themselves illegitimate–which was the big problem for Catherine of Aragon when Henry VIII wanted an annulment from her; she didn’t want her daughter Mary to become a bastard–but otherwise it’s a pretty definitive statement about the original validity of a particular marriage contract.

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OHIO
News-Leader

by Briana Barker | Reporter Published: June 10, 2015

Northfield Center — A national group has asked Cleveland Catholic Diocese Bishop Richard Lennon to visit St. Barnabas Catholic Church to evaluate and “punish” the Rev. Ralph Wiatrowski for his support of a man convicted of child pornography related charges.

Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests stated in a letter to Bishop Lennon it released June 4 that “Wiatrowski must be publicly punished for trying to keep a convicted predator walking free, and for siding with a guilty friend over innocent children.”

The letter called for the discipline of the Rev. Wiatrowski for the letter he wrote April 13 asking the court for leniency on behalf of former Nordonia Hills School Board President Steve Bittel, who pleaded guilty in March to felony charges related to child pornography and a police standoff he initiated last September. The Rev. Wiatrowski had also appeared in court on Bittel’s behalf.

The Rev. Wiatrowski did not return calls by press time. He told the News Leader in May that he thinks his actions have been misconstrued.

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UNITED STATES
PopeCrimes& Vatican Evils.

Paris Arrow

Take a look at these two giant statues and see how identical they are — a giant statue of John Paul II in Mexico and a giant statue of Julius Caesar in Rome. They have identical stance and hand gestures. Almost all statues of John Paul II have this stance and gesture of Emperor Caesar. The Opus Dei Beast PR Deceits Team who created the 27 years papacy and sudden sainthood of John Paul II is copycatting ancient statues of the Caesars who were the self-proclaimed Roman deities of the Roman Empire. All roads lead to Rome – so giant statues of Emperor Cesar was in every country, every temple and every roadside of countries that Rome conquered. And these giant statues of the Roman emperor and deity – all lead to Rome.

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AUSTRALIA
Eureka Street

Andrew Hamilton | 10 June 2015

In my early years of secondary school there was a very fine footballer in the senior team of another school. I had never met him, but hated him with a passion. For me he was the embodiment of evil: came from a snobs school, had a non Anglo-Irish name, represented the wrongs inflicted on Ireland, ran rings around our team, and was a filthy player.

I later recognised that he was an unassuming young man who was scrupulously fair in his play. But that was later. In boyhood hatred created its object out of all the prejudices that lay to hand.

This memory returned in recent weeks when reading of the constant booing and vilification of Adam Goodes, and reading some of the opinion pieces on the Ballarat sexual abuse.

Goodes, already marked as the enemy by rival tribes, either because of his high skills or his fearless representation of an unpopular cause, became invested with racial prejudices, suspicions of unfairness, and imputations of self-righteousness, and so a target for hatred. He is no longer a person but a representative of evil, and so what can you do but boo and execrate?

Unless, of course, he joins your tribe.

Tribal hatred in football in Australia is unattractive, but pretty harmless. Supporters generally don it when they go to the ground and divest themselves of it when they leave. But they always reveal something of themselves in their conduct.

What the Royal Commission laid out in Ballaarat was horrifying and aborrent.

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OHIO
Gospel Herald

By SUZETTE GUTIERREZ-CACHILA (NEWS@GOSPELHERALD.COM) Jun 09, 2015

Seth Oiler, pastor of First United Methodist Church in Newark, Ohio, committed suicide last month after confessing that he had an adulterous affair with a church staff. He took his own life in the parsonage where he lived with his wife and children.

Oiler reportedly met with Bishop Gregory Palmer and “confessed to a sexual misconduct with an adult in the congregation.” The pastor then requested for a voluntary leave of absence.

“He agreed with the bishop that stepping aside from his current appointment at First United Methodist Church was best in order to provide a time of counseling for himself and his family,” said Lisa Streight, communications director for the West Ohio Conference of the United Methodist Church, in a statement published in the Newark Advocate.

After Oiler’s confession, the church decided to extend support to him by continuing to give his salary and letting him and his family stay in the parsonage temporarily. The news of his suicide came as a shock to the church and the community.

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CALIFORNIA
Imperial Valley Press

By JULIO MORALES Staff Writer, Copy Editor

Posted on Jun 10, 2015

A 47-year-old El Centro resident and bishop of Second Baptist Church in El Centro was arrested by authorities for allegedly communicating with a minor for the purposes of committing a lewd act.

Mark Anderson was booked into Imperial County jail Saturday evening following an investigation by Brawley police detectives. A 14-year-old female had alerted authorities Friday evening of having received inappropriate sexual communications from him, a Brawley Police Department press release stated.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

Source: AAP
10 JUN 2015

An Anglican diocese in Victoria has voted to become a company so child abuse survivors will know exactly who to sue if they launch a case against the church.

Wangaratta is the third Anglican diocese in Victoria to make the decision to incorporate.

Ballarat and Bendigo have already voted to make the change and the diocese of Melbourne will vote on whether to do so in the next few weeks.

The Victorian decisions cut through debates about the legal status of Anglican and Catholic churches in sex abuse law suits.

David Parsons, a legal adviser to Wangaratta said the decision to become a discrete legal entity was made at a recent meeting of the diocesan synod – the governing body – which covers 60 Anglican congregations in north-east Victoria.

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OHIO
News-Leader

by Briana Barker | Reporter Published: June 10, 2015

Northfield Center — A national group has asked Cleveland Catholic Diocese Bishop Richard Lennon to visit St. Barnabas Catholic Church to evaluate and “punish” the Rev. Ralph Wiatrowski for his support of a man convicted of child pornography related charges.

Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests stated in a letter to Bishop Lennon it released June 4 that “Wiatrowski must be publicly punished for trying to keep a convicted predator walking free, and for siding with a guilty friend over innocent children.”

The letter called for the discipline of the Rev. Wiatrowski for the letter he wrote April 13 asking the court for leniency on behalf of former Nordonia Hills School Board President Steve Bittel, who pleaded guilty in March to felony charges related to child pornography and a police standoff he initiated last September. The Rev. Wiatrowski had also appeared in court on Bittel’s behalf.

The Rev. Wiatrowski did not return calls by press time. He told the News Leader in May that he thinks his actions have been misconstrued.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

Hillary Clinton Benefits From Errors, of US Bishops and the Pope’s Cardinals Council and Billionaire Donors, on Fixing the Pope’s Major Messes on Child Abuse, Gay Marriage and Contraception (Obamacare)

For over three decades, the Vatican and US bishops have been close political allies of the US Republican party and its “low tax/lower regulation/least safety net” billionaire donors. For over two of those decades, the Vatican and its US bishops have had fundamental disagreements with the US Democratic party’s most prominent woman and current leading presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, as noted here.

Ironically, Hillary Clinton now appears to be benefitting considerably from the multiple “messes” that the US bishops and both Pope Francis’ elite Council of Cardinals (C9) and billionaire donors have, in effect, evidently exacerbated by their many errors and omissions. These messes relate to (A) continuing priest child sexual abuse under unaccountable and stonewalling bishops’ noses, (B) opposition to same sex civil marriages, and (C) opposition to free contraception under Obamacare that contributes both to family poverty and to global warming through unwanted overpopulation.

The pope needs to re-assess in light, among other things, of the recent criminal cases relating to former US House Speaker, Dennis Hastert, and Minneapolis bishops. The recent image of Hastert, once two steps away from the US presidency, pleading Not Guilty in a Chicago Federal court should cause many in the Catholic hierarchy to reflect and reform, no? No one is now above the law, not even the pope!

It is likely only a matter of time before the media and prospective voters ask whether the allegations in Chicago about Hastert’s “secret side” and in Minneapolis about alleged cover-ups of priest child abuse by Fr. Kevin McDonough, brother of President Obama’s Chief of Staff, were factors in the Federal government’s currently inexplicable failure for years to investigate the epidemic of institutional child sexual abuse in the US, especially in the Catholic Church, as Australia, Ireland, Canada, the UK and many other nations are now doing?

Protecting child abusers turns off most modern voters. Opposing civil same sex marriage also turns off a growing majority of these voters, as recent US polls and the Irish Catholic vote make very clear. Opposing contraception and Obamacare is also a “vote loser”, especially with the millions of US voters who would lose their new health insurance if Obamacare is invalidated by the US Supreme Court.

It is no surprise that many US Republican political leaders privately hope the US Supreme Court will soon declare same sex marriage to be a constitutionally protected right. These Republicans fear the same sex marriage trap. Many Republicans, and likely several of the politically astute conservative US Supreme Court justices who want their successors to be appointed soon by a conservative Republican US president, now realize that Republicans likely can only win the 2016 US elections (and thereby control the selection of future US Supreme Court justices) by losing on the Obamacare and same sex marriage cases soon to be decided at the US Supreme Court. President Obama seems to understand all of this as well, which may be why he is reaching out to Catholics on health care.

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher (article updated 8 June 2015)

Cardinal George Pell is claiming now that he has “helped” the Catholic Church’s sex-abuse victims. Therefore, let’s look at how Pell treated one of the church’s victims — a former altar boy, John Ellis. Cardinal Pell (as head of the Sydney Catholic archdiocese) instigated the archdiocese’s legal battle against John Ellis, according to evidence and documents presented to Australia’s child-abuse Royal Commission. Pell’s legal victory in 2007 (known as the “Ellis defence”) now forces church-victims to accept a discounted in-house “Towards Healing” settlement instead of suing for proper compensation, the Commission was told. And this Broken Rites article demonstrates that John Ellis was not the only victim of his abuser, Sydney priest Father Aidan Duggan.

John Ellis was thrice abused

According to statements and documents given to at the Royal Commission, the Sydney archdiocese victimised John Ellis three times:

The first abuse: In 1974 the Sydney archdiocese recruited Father Aidan Duggan (from a religious order in Britain) and appointed him to a Sydney parish (Bass Hill), where it gave him easy access to a 13-year-old altar boy, John Ellis. Duggan, who had been a serial child-abuser in Britain, immediately began using his priestly authority to sexually abuse John Ellis, and this happened on church premises. As often happens in church-abuse cases, the church culture intimidated John Ellis into remaining silent about the abuse. This secrecy disrupted John Ellis’s adolescent development and his later life.

The second abuse: In 2002, when he was aged 41, John Ellis told the Sydney archdiocese about how his life had been damaged. He sought an acknowledgement about this church-abuse, plus some support in addressing the damage. But (according to evidence at the Royal Commission in 2014) Archbishop George Pell behaved evasively, traumatising John Ellis further. Pell finally accepted that John Ellis was a victim of church sexual abuse but refused him compensation, offerng him only a discounted “pastoral” settlement (commonly known as a “Towards Healing” settlement). The draft settlement document stated that this settlement was being offered by:

1. George Pell (as the head of the Sydney archdiocese) and
2. the trustees of the archdiocese.
This document would require Mr Ellis to give up his right to sue the archdiocese for proper compensation. Mr Ellis refused to sign away this right.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

[Bishops’ Spring General Assembly In St. Louis Will Be Available By Web Stream, Social Media, Satellite Feed]

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) will gather for their annual Spring General Assembly, June 10-12, in St. Louis. Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, USCCB president, will present a summary to the bishops on the consultation of U.S. dioceses for the 2015 Synod on the Family. Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, OFM Cap., will give an update on the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia, which Pope Francis will attend on his September Apostolic Journey to the United States.

Alice and Jeffrey Heinzen of the Diocee of La Crosse, Wisconsin, will give one of three presentations by married couples on marriage and family. The Heinzens were observers to the 2014 Extraordinary Synod on the Family. The other presenters are Lucia and Ricardo Luzondo, directors of Renovación Familiar Ministries, and Claire and John Grabowski, Ph.D., members of the Pontifical Council for the Family. Curtis Martin, founder and CEO of the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS), will speak on messaging the Gospel to young people.

Archbishop John C. Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Communications, will unveil new digital resources available to U.S. bishops and dioceses. Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski of Miami, chairman of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, will lead a discussion on themes associated with the anticipated encyclical by Pope Francis on ecology. Archbishop Wenski will also give an update on a planned 2017 convocation by the Bishops’ Working Group on the Life and Dignity of the Human Person.

Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco, chairman of the Subcommittee on the Promotion and Defense of Marriage, will present on the Conference’s marriage policy efforts ahead of the anticipated decision by the U.S Supreme Court. Auxiliary Bishop Eusebio L. Elizondo, MSpS, of Seattle will give an update on USCCB’s ongoing work in Haiti following the 2010 earthquake. Bishop Elizondo, who chairs the Subcommittee on the Church in Latin America and the Committee on Migration, will join Bishop Kevin W. Vann of Orange, California, for an update on immigration reform.

Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houson, USCCB vice president, will provide an update on the work to update the bishops’ quadrennial statement on political responsibility, “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship.” Bishop Frank J. Caggiano of Bridgeport, Connecticut, the bishops’ liaison to World Youth Day, will give an update on World Youth Day 2016 in Krakow. Bishop Richard J. Malone of Buffalo, New York, will report on the Lay Ecclesial Ministry Summit, to be held in St. Louis ahead of the bishops’ meeting.

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UNITED STATES
PopeCrimes& Vatican Evils.

Paris Arrow

Who do you believe and would support and follow today? Who is right?

A 21st century contemporary secular American county young attorney — or — a self-claimed infallible pope of the Medieval Ages whose Papal Bull is still being followed by 1.2 billion Catholics today?

Behold! Ramsey County Attorney John J. Choi versus Pope Boniface VIII ex-cathedra Unam Sanctam !

So what’s the big deal? What’s different this time? Why does it seem suddenly so serious and it feels so authentically different – in the gut – as if this time it’s for real?

For more than 10 years, we’ve seen and heard it all, from Boston to Los Angeles – 3 billion dollars payout to victims in the US – to Ireland, across Europe, to the UN in Switzerland, now it’s on-going Down Under in Australia, all kinds of civil secular courts trying to hound and nail the Roman Catholic Church for its heinous bestial crimes against children but it seems to always get away – unscathed.

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CANADA
CBC News

A court ruling has compelled the federal government to search RCMP records for evidence of abuse at Bishop Horden Indian Residential School in Moose Factory, Ont.

The ruling comes after a group of former students asked an Ontario Superior Court to ensure the federal government was doing all that is required to search for and disclose evidence related to residential schools.

The nine former students involved in the case attended Bishop Horden residential school in Moose Factory, Ont. in the 1960s and say they suffered physical or sexual abuse.

“The finding that the federal officials have been in breach of their documentary disclosure obligations is very important to the clients I am representing,” said lawyer Fay Brunning in an email.

“If a child was abused and someone reported it to the police, of course documents were generated.”

The former students had claimed the federal government is obliged to provide information about the former residential school, the people that worked there and any charges or convictions on record.

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NEW YORK
TWC News

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A local church is speaking out after one of its former church-group leaders was indicted on sex abuse charges.

Roy Battle, 36, is accused of having inappropriate sexual relations with two teenage boys.

Battle was a youth ministry volunteer between 2005 and 2012 before moving to California. The Open Door Baptist Church says it has been working with the Rochester police department and Monroe County district attorney’s office since allegations surfaced in 2014.

The church says Battle, like all Youth Ministry workers, go through background checks and receive training to adhere to a strict code of conduct. It goes on to say Battle was never as a paid church staff member nor was ever considered a Pastor.

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