ABUSE TRACKER

CANADA
Hamilton Spectator

By Bruce Cheadle

OTTAWA — The time for frank apologies for Canada’s treatment of its first peoples is over and must make way for a change in behaviour, the chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission said on the eve of his long-awaited report’s release.

“Truth and apologies are achieved through words, important words, yes,” Justice Murray Sinclair said Monday.

“But the next step, reconciliation, is achieved only by acting differently.”

Five years and $60 million have gone into the six-volume study of Canada’s residential schools, which were established in the 1840s to “take the Indian out of the child” and lasted until the ’90s.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper kicked off the long reconciliation process with a moving apology from the government of Canada in the House of Commons in June 2008, with the commission getting off to a wobbly start the following year.

The original cast of three commissioners all resigned before the project hit its stride, eventually visiting hundreds of communities and hearing testimony from 7,000 survivors.

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FLORIDA
WPTV

Brian Entin
Jun 1, 2015

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – UPDATE: Jury deliberations will continue tomorrow morning at 9:45.

EARLIER:

Closing arguments started Monday in the case of a former Rosarian Academy Elementary School teacher accused of child molestation.

Stephen Budd is accused of molesting two Rosarian Academy students when they were in the fourth grade.

The girls, now in their late teens, testified about the alleged sexual abuse that happened in the classroom.

Prosecutors told the jury Monday afternoon that there is no reason the girls would make up the stories.

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ILLINOIS
WLS

By Nick Gale, WLS News

The group of abuse survivors usually targeting wayward priests is calling on former congressman Dennis Hastert to come forward to address reports of alleged abuse.

“We would encourage Mr. Hastert to face up and to tell the truth. If children were hurt under his watch he should own up to it and pay the consequences,” said Barbara Blaine, president of The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP.

The group is also calling on the state to set up a confidential hotline for men and women who have been violated as children, to call for help.

“We’re just asking that, to use this moment,” Blaine said. “It’s a sad moment for Illinois to have this happen and we’re saying, lets make the most of it.”

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ILLINOIS
Chicago Tribune

By Meredith Rodriguez
Chicago Tribune

A support group for clergy sex abuse victims presented a letter to Lisa Madigan’s office Monday asking the attorney general to set up a hotline for adults who have suffered sex abuse as children.

The group also sent letters Monday to the Illinois Association of School Administrators and several Boy Scout councils in the Chicagoland area, asking them to set up hotlines.

“We want victims to find information and resources and learn that they are not alone,” the group wrote in the letter to Madigan.

SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, referred to the recent federal charges against former House Speaker Dennis Hastert. According to his indictment, the former Illinois congressman agreed to pay $3.5 million in apparent hush money to a longtime acquaintance who once lived in Yorkville, where Hastert taught English and coached wrestling from 1965 to 1981. The payments were made to the acquaintance to “compensate for and conceal his prior misconduct against individual A,” according to the indictment.

Details of the misconduct aren’t spelled out in Hastert court documents, but a day after the news broke, law enforcement sources said he was paying off a former male student to conceal sexual abuse from decades earlier and that a second person raised similar allegations that corroborated the account of the initial victim.

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

AN abuse survivor and member of Pope Francis’s child protection commission has expressed concern that George Pell is in charge of the panel’s finances.

BRITISH advocate Peter Saunders on the weekend called on the Pope to sack Cardinal Pell as the Vatican’s financial chief over allegations he helped cover up pedophile activity in Australia.

Now Mr Saunders has revealed the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors may not be able to do its job properly due to a lack of resources.

“George Pell is in the Pope’s cabinet, the inner sanctum, and is in charge of Vatican finances,” Mr Saunders told AAP on Monday.

“And the commission will largely be dictated to some extent by the resources that are made available to it … and my understanding is that there is some financial pressure already in this particular area and I’m pretty appalled at that.”

Mr Saunders said it was to the Pope’s “great credit” that he was looking to lay people – including some in Australia – to advise him.

But he noted the commission was only scheduled to meet twice yearly, which was inadequate.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

Cardinal George Pell is a man of integrity and claims that he is “almost sociopathic” are wrong, one of Australia’s senior Catholic churchmen says.

“It doesn’t fit the man,” Archbishop of Melbourne Denis Hart told ABC radio on Tuesday in response to the accusation made by UK child sexual abuse survivor Peter Saunders.

“It’s a personal view … by someone who doesn’t know Cardinal Pell.”

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

A leading Vatican observer has defended Pope Francis in the wake of accusations made against Australian Cardinal George Pell by a member of the Vatican’s commission on child protection.

Peter Saunders, a survivor of abuse, appeared on Channel Nine on Sunday, calling Cardinal Pell’s handling of abuse victims “almost sociopathic” and urging Pope Francis to take the “strongest possible action” against him.

However, America Magazine Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell said the calls were unwarranted.

He said Pope Francis would “not protect anybody” and would not hesitate to take action against Cardinal Pell.

“Pope Francis has made clear, there are no protected species,” Mr O’Connell told the ABC’s AM program.

“His words were that there are no daddy’s boys in his pontificate.

“If you’re a cardinal and you have done wrong, then you have to answer for it.”

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BELGIE
De Standaard

Paus Franciscus heeft het ontslag van aartsbisschop Léonard aanvaard. Dat meldt Tommy Scholtes, persverantwoordelijke van de bisschoppenconferentie.

Aartsbisschop André-Joseph Léonard is 75 jaar geworden. Volgens het kerkelijk recht moest hij dan zijn ontslag bij de paus aanbieden. Die heeft dat na zo’n drie weken aanvaard.

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BELGIUM
Catholic Culture

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Archbishop André-Joseph Léonard of Brussels, the Belgian archdiocese announced on June 1.

Archbishop Léonard submitted his letter of resignation on May 6, as required by canon law, upon reaching the age of 75. Just two weeks earlier, a Belgian court had ordered the archbishop to pay €10,000 in damages to a sex-abuse victim, ruling that the prelate was responsible for a failure to take action on prior abuse complaints.

The resignation of Archbishop Léonard was widely perceived as a test of the Pope’s determination to hold bishops accountable for their handling of sex-abuse cases. Although the archbishop had denied wrongdoing in the court case, and his attorney had said that he might appeal the ruling, his critics applauded the Pope’s quick action in accepting his resignation.

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UNTIED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release Monday, June 1, 2015

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

We should be grateful, at some level, that the planet’s second most powerful Catholic prelate is threatening legal action against victim of two predator priests.

[BBC News]

At least Cardinal George Pell is showing his true colors. He bullied child sex abuse victims years ago. And he’s trying to bully child sex abuse victims now.

Pell issued a statement saying he would consult legal advisers after Pete Saunders, a survivor from the United Kingdom criticized his actions in clergy abuse and cover up cases.

Is this a Christian response? Someone challenges you, so you threaten legal action. That speaks volumes about Pell, but also about the kind of clerics Pope Francis promotes.

One of the most frustrating aspects of this on-going crisis has been the utter lack of attention given to the enormous contradiction between what Catholic officials say in public about abuse and what Catholic officials do in court about abuse. Hardball legal tactics – and threats of such tactics – are painfully common by men who profess to be Christ’s shepherds.

More than two decades ago, in a page one piece, the Wall Street Journal noted this hypocrisy:

The Catholic Church Struggles with Suits over Sexual Abuse

Other journalist have done the same:

Church Threatening Sex Abuse Victims with Court: Solicitor

Diocese Uses Tough Tactics in Sex Suits Facing Steep Liability, Church Plays ‘Hardball’ with Accusers, Critics Say

‘Legal abuse’ tactic of Catholic Church decried

As he angrily puffed out his chest, Pell said, through an expert public relations team, that he “has taken a strong stand against child sexual abuse and put in place processes to enable complaints to be brought forward and independently investigated.”

It may be worth noting, however, that a papal spokesman did NOT re-enforce this audacious claim to near perfection in dealing with victims, predators and enablers.

According to Vatican Radio, “Fr. Lombardi (said) that Cardinal Pell has always responded carefully and thoroughly to the accusations and questions posed by the Australian authorities.”

[Vatican Radio]

Lombardi did NOT to defend Pell’s abuse and cover up record in Australia.

We don’t blame Lombardi.

Finally, we commend Pete Saunders for his courage. Other members of the church hierarchy – both ordained and lay people – should find the strength to speak their minds about this continuing scandal.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

Pope Francis and his revamped Vatican clique appear to have learned few lessons from the overwhelming majority of Irish voters, a fair sample of the People of God whose voices are rarely listened to in Rome. The pope evidently continues to back shameful Cardinal George Pell, after Pell tried with public legal threats apparently to bully courageous priest abuse survivor and Vatican commissioner, Peter Saunders, whom the pope had personally picked. Cardinal Pell slammed Saunders’ allegations in a recent 60 Minutes interview as “false and misleading” and announced he was seeking legal advice. Of course, Pell would likely only harm his own case if he were to actually sue over this matter, based on my decades of legal experience.

Saunders, of course, had to have realized he may face legal action, given Pell’s prior reported history of using lawyers at times for intimidation purposes, it appears. Saunders reportedly indicated in response to Pell’s litigation threat that it was “very unfortunate, very sad and very unchristian”.

Saunders added: “The Church, including the Church in Australia, has a long history of spending an enormous amount of money on defending perpetrator priests and other clerics, so it doesn’t surprise me in the least that Cardinal Pell is resorting to using the massive resources of the Vatican to essentially consider threatening me in some way, …”

Saunders further added: “I’m not afraid. I will not be silenced, and if he [Pell] does try to sue me, I think we will see the size of the reaction. I’ve been overwhelmed with messages of support from Australian abuse victims who say that I’m giving them a voice they never had.”

Being called “unchristian” is not new for Pell. In the recent Australian Royal Commission Report on the Case of John Ellis’s experience of the Towards Healing process and civil litigation, the Report found that Cardinal Pell “did not act fairly from a Christian point of view in the conduct of the litigation against Mr Ellis”. In his testimony, Pell acknowledged that his approach was wrong.

As one journalist noted, it is this type of highhanded hierarchical behavior that contributed to the Irish recently sending the pope a strong protest message by rejecting one of the pope’s key marriage positions. It is especially disappointing and noteworthy that the pope would endorse this further abuse of Peter Saunders, who has already suffered too much at the hands of clerics. The pope had met alone and personally with Saunders, so is well aware of what he has suffered.

The pope’s spokesman, Jesuit Fr. Lombardi, has needlessly tried, in effect, to undercut Peter Saunders, who wants to bring Cardinal George Pell to justice. Saunders in a remarkable interview here on Australia’s 60 Minutes had highlighted some of Cardinal Pell’s numerous alleged failures to protect children and provide justice to priest abuse survivors. The pope and Lombardi are well aware of the brief interview, as well as Pell’s poor history on protecting children and giving justice to survivors — that seems obvious. b

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VATICAN CITY
Washington Post

Vatican defends Australian cardinal against charges he disregarded pedophile priests

By Rosie Scammell | Religion News Service June 1

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican threw its support behind its financial chief, Cardinal George Pell, on Monday (June 1), after he was accused of being “almost sociopathic” in his handling of clergy sex abuse by a leading member of a papal commission dedicated to tackling the issue.

The Vatican spoke out after commission member Peter Saunders, who was abused by a priest as a child, claimed Pell had not done enough to tackle pedophile priests when the cardinal was Australia’s leading cleric.

“I think it’s critical that George Pell is moved aside, that he is sent back to Australia, and that the pope takes the strongest action against him,” Saunders told Australia’s Channel Nine. Saunders also said Pell had behaved in an “almost sociopathic” way.

But the Vatican’s spokesman, Federico Lombardi, said Saunders was speaking individually and not on behalf of the 17-member commission.

The Vatican’s commission “is not competent to investigate or to pronounce specific judgments on individual cases,” Lombardi said. He pointed to a recent statement by Pell on the issue and said it “must be considered reliable and worthy of respect and attention.”

A representative for Pell said the cardinal was seeking legal advice over the “false and misleading claims” made by Saunders, whom he has never met.

An Australian royal commission set up to investigate child sex abuse requested Pell attend the inquiry, following mounting pressure on the cardinal to testify in person.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

A judicial review has begun over the decision to exclude the former Kincora boys’ home in east Belfast from a child abuse inquiry being held at Westminster.

A victim is taking legal action to force an independent inquiry with power to compel witnesses and the security services to hand over documents.

Gary Hoy was abused by two men who were subsequently convicted.

There have been allegations that a paedophile ring at Kincora was linked to the British intelligence services.

The government has so far refused calls for the abuse scandal at the Belfast home to be included within the scope of the inquiry established by Home Secretary Theresa May and headed by New Zealand judge Lowell Goddard.

The government has said that as child protection is a devolved matter, the right place for the Kincora allegations to be examined is Northern Ireland’s Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, which has been sitting in Banbridge.

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CHILE
ADN

[Bishop Emeritus Juan Luis Ysem, current member of the Santiago eccliesiatical tribune, has sent a letter to Juan Barros asking him to renounced the bishopric of Osorno after the controversy over his ties to Fernando Karadima.]

El obispo emérito y actual integrante del tribunal eclesiástico de Santiago Juan Luis Ysern envió una carta a Juan Barros pidiéndole que renuncie al obispado de Osorno, tras la polémica suscitada por sus lazos con Fernando Karadima.

En la misiva publicada por el diario La Segunda, el ex obispo de Ancud afirmó que “no pudo darse cuenta el Papa que en Chile hay diversas clases de víctimas de Karadima. Tú perteneces a una de esas clases y la misma Iglesia en Chile es una víctima de Karadima”.

“Esto nos hace sufrir a todos y tú no puedes desconocer que perteneces a una de las diversas clases de víctimas. Esa marca la tienes y te acompañará donde vayas”, añade.

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ROME
The Independent (UK)

British victim of clerical sex abuse chosen to help root out paedophilia in the Catholic Church may face legal action from Vatican adviser

MICHAEL DAY
ROME Monday 01 June 2015

A British clerical sex abuse victim chosen by Pope Francis to help root out paedophilia in the Catholic Church has been threatened with legal action by one of the pontiff’s closest advisers for suggesting he helped conceal child sex abuse in his native Australia.

London-based Peter Saunders told a television documentary that Cardinal George Pell had ignored and even denigrated clerical abuse victims as part of the Church’s widespread cover-up of paedophile activity.

Mr Saunders, who was picked by the Pope to work on the Church’s commission for the protection of children, went on to demand the Cardinal’s resignation. “I personally think that his position is untenable,” said Mr Saunders. “Because he has a catalogue of denigrating people, of acting with callousness, cold-heartedness. It’s making a mockery of the commission, but above all of the victims and survivors.”

The claims were firmly denied by the Vatican, where Cardinal Pell has gained a reputation as a highly effective agent in the fight against the institution’s other ingrained problem: financial impropriety. “Cardinal Pell has always responded attentively and in detail to the questions posed by Australian authorities,” the Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said. The Cardinal’s comments should be “considered reliable and worthy of respect and attention”.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

There are at least three ironies in the abuse and financial scandal swirling around ex-GOP House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois. While a state legislator, Hastert touted his backing of child abuse prevention laws. While in Congress, he pushed for legislation designed to stop money laundering – which later led to his own wrongdoing being prosecuted. And his son Ethan works for the Chi-town firm of Mayer Brown, whose lawyers have helped Catholic officials there fight lawsuits brought by victims of pedophile abuse.

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MICHIGAN
Legal Examiner

Posted by David Mittleman
June 1, 2015

In a story that has been developing over the last 6 months, a former Jackson Lumen Christi High School priest has been arraigned on criminal sexual conduct charges stemming from alleged misconduct about 30 years ago. James Francis Rapp worked at Lumen Christi in the early 1980s as a teacher, priest, and wrestling coach. Rapp is currently in prison in Oklahoma after being sentenced in 1999 for similar charges.

History of Abuse

Records released in the early 2000s reveal that Rapp was known to have a history of abuse by 1986, when he left Lumen Christi. According to contemporary news reports, Dr. Frank Valcour at the St. Luke Institute in Maryland determined that Rapp suffered from a sexual disorder and should not be unsupervised around minors. Despite the doctor’s finding, Rapp was allowed to transfer to a church in Duncan, Oklahoma. The Archdiocese of Oklahoma denies knowing of Rapp’s history when it approved the transfer.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican News Service

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The views and opinions of a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors who criticized Australian Cardinal George Pell on an Australian television program do not reflect the opinion of the commission nor its role, the Vatican spokesman said.

The commission “does not have the task of investigating and pronouncing judgment on individual cases,” said Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman. Investigations are carried out by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Commission member Peter Saunders, a British survivor of sexual abuse and co-founder of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood, appeared in a “60 Minutes” segment broadcast May 31 by Australia’s Channel Nine.

Asked about Cardinal Pell and the way he handled allegations about abusive priests, Saunders said, “I personally think his position is untenable, because he has now a catalogue of denials, he has a catalogue of denigrating people, of acting with callousness, cold heartedness, almost sociopathic I would go so far as to say, this lack of care.”

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UNITED STATES
Hamilton and Griffin on Rights

It’s a bit lonely – and unsettling – when it seems like you’re the only one pushing for a particular idea.

That’s how we in SNAP feel about a specific type of training that we’ve long advocated. We’re convinced it could really help prevent child sex crimes and cover ups in institutional settings.

Some institutional officials train their staff in how to RECOGNIZE possible signs of abuse. That’s great.

Some institutional officials train their staff in how to REPORT possible signs of abuse. That’s great too.

Other institutional officials train their members – especially kids – in how to RESIST abuse. And that’s great as well.

But as best we can tell, no institution – no school, church, summer camp, athletic league or day care center – trains staff and members in how to REACT when abuse reports surface.

So often, those staff and members make hurtful comments, in private or in public.

And as a result, often victims, witnesses and whistleblowers whose information could make criminal prosecution begin or succeed are so scared or depressed that they stay silent instead of speaking up. Rather than encouraging and welcoming messages being sent to those with knowledge or suspicions of child sex crimes, very chilling and depressing messages get sent instead.

We’re not talking here about how the institutional hierarchy should react, but how the institution’s rank-and-file members and supporters should act. Because while it’s important that the few at the top act properly, it’s just as important for the many at the bottom to act properly.

Almost every day, we see some popular or powerful adult accused of victimizing a child. And we see some colleague or neighbor of that alleged predator defending him or her. Often, the defense of the accused involves an attack on the accuser.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

The Vatican has moved to defend its finance chief Australian George Pell after he was accused by one of Pope Francis’ commissioners for child protection of being “almost sociopathic”.

Spokesman Federico Lombardi said Peter Saunders, who called for Pell to be dismissed over allegations he covered up abuse and denigrated victims, was expressing his “personal views” and not speaking on behalf of the commission.

Cardinal Pell, formerly the top Catholic cleric in Australia, has replied to all questions posed by the authorities and his defence “must be considered reliable and worthy of attention and respect,” Lombardi told journalists.

Pell has become embroiled in the probe in his homeland which last week heard evidence from paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale, who abused at least 50 boys over two decades.

The cardinal, who accompanied Ridsdale to court in 1993 when he admitted the abuse, has repeatedly denied knowing about any of the offences, helping move the priest to another parish or that he tried to buy a victim’s silence.

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TEXAS
Watch keep

Yesterday, several members of the DFW chapter of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests gathered outside The Village Church Dallas Northway campus. We stood for the protection of kids. We are very concerned that confessed pedophile Jordan Root, a member of TVC & a licensed professional counselor, may have victims in the DFW area and elsewhere, given his volunteer and work history involving vulnerable children.

WHY

A missionary from The Village Church (TVC) admitted viewing and having sexual images of children. In February, a church group corroborated this.

But, in a move that has created a firestorm of protest in Christian circles and on the Internet, church officials embraced him and disciplined his wife for moving to have their marriage annulled.

[Christian Today]

The offender is Jordan Root who did church work in East Asia. SNAP worries that Root may have hurt kids in there. His wife is Karen Hinkley. On Sunday, TVC pastor Matt Chandler has said he will apologize to her.

But SNAP says that an apology “does nothing to protect the vulnerable or heal those already hurt because of the crimes of Root and the actions of TVC staff.” The group believes “that kids are at risk now because Root walks free, living and working among unsuspecting families (and) that there are kids he has hurt who are suffering in silence, shame and self-blame.”

TVC staff should use their vast resources to alert parents, police, prosecutors and the public about Root’s crimes, SNAP says, and to aggressively seek out youngsters he has assaulted. The church has a moral and civic duty to help law enforcement investigation and prosecute Root, so that other kids may be spared devastating harm, the organization maintains.

The victims’ group is also urging anyone “who may have seen, suspected or suffered crimes by Root or cover ups by TVC to call police, expose wrongdoing, protect kids and start healing.”

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) The Director of the Press Office of the Holy See, Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., made a clarification on Monday in response to journalists’ questions regarding statements made by one of the 17 members of the Commission for the Protection of Minors, Peter Saunders, during a broadcast on Australian television, regarding Australian Cardinal George Pell and his record of leadership in the clerical sex abuse crisis in his country.

Fr. Lombardi said that Saunders’ remarks were made in an entirely personal way and not on behalf of the Commission.

Fr. Lombardi went on to say that Cardinal Pell has always responded carefully and thoroughly to the accusations and questions posed by the Australian authorities, and that his position has been made known again in recent days by a public declaration on his part, which must be considered reliable and worthy of respect and attention.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Catholic Herald

by David V Barrett
posted Monday, 1 Jun 2015

But Church denies cardinal’s book was censored before publication

The publisher of Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor’s memoirs has said it was “regrettable” that the prelate had made cuts to his book.

He spoke after Guardian newspaper claimed that the cardinal was forced by the Church to censor his book, An English Spring, published last month by Bloomsbury Continuum.

According to the Guardian, un-named “associates of the cardinal” said that the former Archbishop of Westminster was made to remove sections concerning the convicted paedophile Fr Michael Hill. Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor faced calls for his resignation over his handing of the priest when he was Bishop of Arundel and Brighton. Despite being warned that Hill was a danger to young people he moved him to the chaplaincy at Gatwick airport.

The Guardian said the cardinal was made to cut a section defending the right to protect priests when they have erred, and replace it with “a lament about bishops’ failure to prioritise abuse victims over their priests”.

In another section that was cut the cardinal accused the church of not being prepared to root out systemic paedophilia, the Guardian said.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Catholic Herald

by Fr Alexander Lucie-Smith
posted Monday, 1 Jun 2015

The dispute between two men with vitally important tasks at the Vatican is deeply troubling

The latest development from Rome is most disturbing. You can read a report of what is happening here.

Peter Saunders, appointed by Pope Francis to be part of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, himself a survivor of child abuse, has made a very strong attack on Cardinal George Pell, who has been appointed by the Pope to head up the Vatican’s financial commission. As you would expect, given the gravity of the charges against him, the cardinal has responded.

I have never met Cardinal Pell, but it is interesting to note that this is not the first time he has been the object of criticism. Some time ago he was attacked for extravagance, a charge that turned out to be utterly baseless, and made one wonder at the motivation of those putting about such rumours.

But what really strikes one here is something that sadly goes back to the beginning of Church history: the desire to air grievances in public. St Paul upbraided the Corinthians for having recourse to pagan courts (see the sixth chapter of the First Letter to the Corinthians). This is not the same as saying that these disputes need to be settled “in house”, which would be dangerous, given the sad history of the way child abuse has been covered up in the past. But what it does mean is that there are proper channels for deciding disputes inside the Church laid down by Canon Law, and one hopes that these can work effectively.

But is the Roman Curia working effectively when we have two men, both appointed to important jobs by the Pope, clearly not getting on well in public? Indeed, here we have the spectacle of one man calling for the other to be dismissed. Imagine that happening in the Cabinet, for example.

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VATICAN CITY
Yahoo! News

By Philip Pullella and Byron Kaye

VATICAN CITY/SYDNEY (Reuters) – The Vatican on Monday strongly defended Australian Cardinal George Pell against accusations by a member of Pope Francis’ commission on sexual abuse that the Vatican’s finance chief had little regard for victims.

Peter Saunders, one of 17 members of the commission advising the pope on how to root out sex abuse in the Church, said on Australian television on Sunday that Pell should be dismissed over allegations he failed to take action to protect children.

Pell, now charge of reforming the Vatican’s economic departments, issued a statement soon after the program aired, calling Saunders’s comments “false”, “misleading” and “outrageous”, and said he would consult legal advisers.

In a statement published by the network on his behalf, Pell said he had always taken a strong stand against child abuse. Pell has denied moving priests accused of abuse between parishes or offering one victim inducements to drop a complaint.

The comments by Saunders, one of the most outspoken members of the commission, underscored strains within the Church on how to deal with the sexual abuse crisis that has plagued it for nearly two decades.

“Cardinal Pell has always responded attentively and in detail to the questions posed by Australian authorities,” Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said. Pell’s comments should be “considered reliable and worthy of respect and attention”.

Saunders, speaking on Channel Nine’s 60 Minutes Australia program, said of Pell: “He is making a mockery of the papal commission (into child abuse), of the pope himself, but most of all of the victims and the survivors.”

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AUSTRIA
The Local

Lambach Abbey in Upper Austria has been hit by a sex scandal after a drunken monk was arrested after reportedly having sex with a minor on May 11th in Linz.

According to the Kronen Zeitung tabloid the 72-year-old monk has been released from jail pending a court appearance and has been suspended from all his priestly functions.

The Abbey has said it is waiting to hear the results of the police investigation and the court hearing before it makes a final decision on his fate. It has published a statement on its website saying that “under the strong influence of alcohol he availed himself of sexual services. One of the two people involved was, however, underage.”

The monk is reported to have made a full confession and to have said that he regrets the incident very much.

The monastic community had said that it also deeply regrets the incident and has sought to disassociate itself from it. “Our first concern was to ensure clarity. Now we must let the courts do their work and wait and see what happens,” Abbott Maximilian Neulinger said. The case is likely to be referred to the Vatican.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Before there was Oprah and her famous tear-jerker telefessions, in which a remorseful subject perched on her couch and sought absolution for admitting their sins, there was confession of the religious kind.

In principle, it is a practice to be admired. A ritual that encourages a person to be honest in owning up to their transgressions and in turn enjoy the clean slate that forgiveness provides.

In reality, however, things can unfold somewhat imperfectly. At least they did for this former Catholic schoolgirl, who recalls mumbling apologetically about throwing my uneaten lunch away upon being initiated to the sacrament of reconciliation aged seven years old.

Having been absolved of any wrongdoing and sent away to rattle off a few Hail Marys, I remember feeling only relief that I had been spared an eternity in hell for my habit of regularly discarding any stale or uninspired sandwiches straight into the nearest bin.

Rather than prompt any serious soul-searching about how I could avoid such needless waste in future, my experience with confession left me feeling I had covered my bases. Now that my sins had been forgiven by the Almighty’s local representative – the parish priest – I was confident reconciliation would shield me from any further accountability.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

TESSA AKERMAN THE AUSTRALIAN JUNE 02, 2015

Cardinal George Pell will appear before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, opening the way to his being interrogated over what he knew about systemic child abuse in western Victoria.

Cardinal Pell has stated his willingness to appear before the commission and the inquiry confirmed he would be asked to give evidence in the second hearings at Ballarat later this year.

The first set of hearings at Ballarat heard evidence Cardinal Pell was present at a meeting where the transfer of pedophile Gerald Ridsdale from the Mortlake parish was approved.

Cardinal Pell has already appeared twice before the royal commission and this week released a further statement saying “he has never condoned or protected offenders, has never condoned or participated in moving known offenders”.

Archbishop of Melbourne Denis Hart yesterday issued a statement in support of Cardinal Pell. “I know Cardinal Pell to be a good man, an honest man, a man of the church who loves Aus­tralia,” he said.

Peter Saunders, chosen by the Pope six months ago to be the Catholic Church’s commissioner for the protection of children, said Cardinal Pell’s position in the church had become “untenable”.

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AUSTRALIA
Reuters

(Corrects to show Saunders is one of 17 commissioners)

By Byron Kaye

(Reuters) – One of the Catholic Church’s commissioners for the protection of children has described the Vatican’s finance chief as having an almost sociopathic disregard for abused children, accusations the Australian cardinal rejected as wrong and misleading.

Peter Saunders, a member of the 17-strong commission advising Pope Francis on how to root out sex abuse in the Church, said on Australian television the Vatican’s prefect for the Secretariat for the Economy, Australian-born Cardinal George Pell, should be dismissed over allegations he failed to take action to protect children from abuse in the church in Australia.

“He is making a mockery of the papal commission (into child abuse), of the pope himself, but most of all of the victims and the survivors,” Saunders said on Channel Nine’s 60 Minutes Australia on Sunday.

“He has a catalogue of denigrating people, of acting with callousness, cold-heartedness, almost sociopathic I would go as far as to say, this lack of care,” said Saunders, a British victim of abuse.

He said Pell should be “moved aside” and sent back to Australia to address a separate Australian abuse inquiry, which confirmed on Monday that it would ask Pell to testify. But it did not set a date or say if he would have to testify in person.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Telegraph

GERARD HENDERSON THE DAILY TELEGRAPH JUNE 02, 2015

CARDINAL George Pell is the victim of a modern-day witch-hunt. As a social conservative, Pell has a number of opponents within the Catholic Church. But his main attackers are presenters and journalists employed by the ABC and certain other outlets who rarely, if ever, allow an alternative voice to be heard.

Yet, on all available evidence, Pell was among the first bishops in the world to address child sex abuse by clergy. He was appointed archbishop of Melbourne in July 1996 and announced the creation of the Melbourne Response the following October.

Pell was a leader on this issue not only within the Church but well ahead of many secular and government institutions. For example, the royal commission heard complaints against a Sydney doctor in 1998 were not investigated until many years later.

The ABC coverage of Pell has been replete with ignorance and prejudice. On Radio National, presenter James Carleton described Pell as a former “bishop of Ballarat”. Pell was never in control of priests in the Ballarat diocese. The Drum website contains an article by lawyer Michael Bradley that describes Pell as a “def­endant”. The cardinal has not been charged with any offence whatsoever.

Last week ABC News Breakfast opened its coverage of the Ballarat royal commission hearings with the claim that “new evidence” had been discovered with respect to Pell. Claims that Pell offered bribes in a bid to obtain a victim’s sil­ence were first made — and refuted by Pell — in 2002.

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CANADA
CBC News

Sudbury’s Church of the Epiphany bells to ring 1,181 times for missing, murdered aboriginal women

A Sudbury church hopes the sound of its bells will help people take a moment to understand the damage inflicted by Indian residential schools.

Anglican churches across the country, including the Church of the Epiphany in Sudbury, will spend the next three weeks using their bells to honour the 1,181 missing or murdered aboriginal women and girls in Canada.

“Each time you hear the bell, that is a human life that we are marking, that we are not allowing to be forgotten,” said Derek Neal, ministry intern at the Anglican Church or the Epiphany in Sudbury.

“We hope that it will bring attention to this issue. It may prompt people to ask questions. That it will also simply stir in peoples’ hearts a spirit of remembrance for these women.”

The project by the Anglican Church of Canada, which they are calling 22 Days, coincides with the closing ceremonies of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in Ottawa from May 31 to June 3.

The commission was created to document the stories of residential school survivors and to aid in the healing and reconciliation for aboriginal and non-aboriginal people.

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CANADA
Hamilton Spectator

By Chinta Puxley

The commission that has spent five years examining one of the darkest chapters in Canada’s history is winding up its work with a key question left unanswered — exactly how many aboriginal children died in residential schools?

Justice Murray Sinclair, who heads the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, says the federal government stopped recording the deaths around 1920 after the chief medical officer at Indian Affairs suggested children were dying at an alarming rate.

“He was fired,” Sinclair says. “The government stopped recording deaths of children in residential schools, we think, probably because the rates were so high.”

Sinclair has guessed up to 6,000 children may have died at the schools but it’s impossible to say with certainty.

“We think this is a situation that needs further study,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

Opinion

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has vital work to do. Regrettably, its pursuit of justice for thousands of victims of despicable crimes is being overshadowed by a nasty sideshow: that is, the pursuit of Cardinal George Pell by those who loathe his muscular Christianity, his social conservatism and his robust style. British anti-child abuse campaigner Peter Saunders, appointed by Pope Francis to the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, is the latest to join the hounds. On Nine Network’s 60 Minutes on Sunday, he demanded action. The Australian agrees. Mr Saunders should apologise to the cardinal for calling him dangerous, callous, cold-hearted, “almost sociopathic” and claiming he treated victims with contempt. Mr Saunders is the victim of grave injustice, abused as a child by two priests. But that is no excuse for inflicting a serious injustice on another innocent man. Mr Saunders did not bother to speak to the cardinal before denigrating his reputation. He has ignored the main facts, as have much of Australia’s liberal-Left media.

George Pell became archbishop of Melbourne in August 1996 and two months later established the Melbourne Response. It was a trailblazing initiative, the first of its kind in Australia with few, if any, parallels in the church overseas. It involved an independent commission, run by an experienced QC, counselling services and a compensation panel. It worked. Dozens of priests have been stood down and convicted, and scores of victims compensated and counselled.

Those who respect Cardinal Pell’s immense contributions to the church, the nation and cleaning up the Vatican’s financial shambles recognise that hysteria over events 30 and 40 years ago, already answered by him in detail, is diverting attention from matters that warrant more attention. Relatively little has been said, for example, about the inhuman treatment meted out by unholy nuns to Ballarat orphans, one of whom had his teeth yanked out by pliers, was tortured with electroshock therapy, locked in a dungeon and forced to fondle a priest as he heard confessions.

Contrary to what The Saturday Paper and James Carleton on the ABC reported, Cardinal Pell was never in charge of the diocese of Ballarat, his home town. He served there as a priest under Bishop Ronald Mulkearns, who assigned him to the large, rambling St Alipius presbytery. He had no authority over any other priest. His time there, when he led the Aquinas Catholic teachers college, overlapped with several priests in the house, including the now-defrocked Gerald Ridsdale, a master at hiding his depravity. Journalist and former priest Paul Bongiorno, who once shared a presbytery with Ridsdale in Warrnambool, said last week that he knew nothing at that time about Ridsdale’s evil behaviour.

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VATICAN CITY
Daily Star (Lebanon)

Reuters

VATICAN CITY/SYDNEY: The Vatican Monday strongly defended Australian Cardinal George Pell against accusations by a member of Pope Francis’ commission on sexual abuse that the Vatican’s finance chief had little regard for victims.

Peter Saunders, one of 17 members of the commission advising the pope on how to root out sex abuse in the Church, said on Australian television Sunday that Pell should be dismissed over allegations he failed to take action to protect children.

Pell, now charge of reforming the Vatican’s economic departments, issued a statement soon after the program aired, calling Saunders’s comments “false,” “misleading” and “outrageous,” and said he would consult legal advisers.

In a statement published by the network on his behalf, Pell said he had always taken a strong stand against child abuse. Pell has denied moving priests accused of abuse between parishes or offering one victim inducements to drop a complaint.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

British security service shielded and blackmailed child sex abusers at Kincora care home, High Court hears

BY ALAN ERWIN – 01 JUNE 2015

The British security service shielded and blackmailed child sex abusers involved in a paedophile ring at a notorious Belfast care home, the High Court heard today.

Counsel for one victim claimed new evidence of the extent of state collusion and cover-up in the Kincora scandal must now be examined by a wider Westminster inquiry.

Gary Hoy is seeking to judicially review the decision to keep the probe within the remit of a Stormont-commissioned body.

But opening his challenge, Ashley Underwood QC argued the ongoing Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) Inquiry sitting in Banbridge, Co Down lacks the power to properly scrutinise the “appalling, systematic abuse” Mr Hoy suffered at Kincora Boys Home.

He said: “There’s now substantial evidence that the Security Service were condoning that, they knew of it and made use of it so as to blackmail the abusers and prevent some of the abusers being brought to book at the time.”

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 1 June 2015 (VIS) – In response to questions from journalists, the director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., explained that the statement made by Mr. Peter Saunders (one of the 17 members of the Commission for the Protection of Minors) during a television broadcast was evidently given in an entirely personal way and not on behalf of the Commission, which is not competent to investigate or to pronounce specific judgements on individual cases.

Moreover, Cardinal George Pell has always responded carefully and thoroughly to the accusations and questions posed by the competent Australian authorities, and his position has been made known again in recent days by a public declaration on his part, which must be considered reliable and worthy of respect and attention.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Jun. 1, 2015 NCR Today

VATICAN CITY
The Vatican’s main spokesman has downplayed comments made about Australian Cardinal George Pell by a member of Pope Francis’ commission on clergy sexual abuse, saying the member was speaking in his own name and not in the authority of the commission.

Commission member Peter Saunders, an English survivor of clergy sexual abuse, said in an Australian television interview Sunday that Pell had had an “almost sociopathic” disregard for abuse victims.

Responding to Saunders’ interview, Vatican spokesman Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi said in a statement Monday that Saunders was speaking in his own name. The papal commission on clergy sexual abuse, Lombardi said in the statement, “does not have the task of investigating and pronouncing specific judgment on single cases.”

The Vatican spokesman also referred journalists to Pell’s own statements on the matter, saying those “must be considered reliable and worthy of respect and attention.”

Saunders serves as one of 17 members of the papal commission, which is formally known as the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. He made his comments about Pell Sunday on the popular television program 60 Minutes, the Australian version of the U.S. newsmagazine broadcast.

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MICHIGAN
MLive

By Theresa Ghiloni | tghiloni@mlive.com
on June 01, 2015

JACKSON, MI – A former Jackson priest is being charged with 13 counts of criminal sexual conduct for alleged crimes 30-years later to ensure “justice delayed is not justice denied” for the victims in the case, the Attorney General’s office said.

The case against James Rapp, 75, is being handled by Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette’s office at the request of the local prosecutor, Jackson County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Kati Rezmierski said.

Prosecutor Jerry Jarzynka requested a special prosecutor to avoid a possible conflict of interest, Rezmierski said, as he has close ties to Jackson Lumen Christi High School, where Rapp taught during the alleged assaults. Rezmierski said Jarzynka’s children attended the school and his wife works there.

The Attorney General’s office agreed to step in as a special prosecutor.

Rapp served as a priest, teacher, maintenance supervisor and wrestling coach during his time at Lumen Christi High School from 1980-86, when the alleged crimes occurred, according to a statement from Schuette’s office.

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UNITED STATES
The New York Times

Charles M. Blow

Last month came the news that Josh Duggar, now-former executive director of the Family Research Council’s lobbying arm and eldest son on the TLC reality show “19 Kids and Counting,” had apologized and said he had “acted inexcusably.” As In Touch Weekly magazine put it: “Josh Duggar was investigated for multiple sex offenses — including forcible fondling — against five minors. Some of the alleged offenses investigated were felonies.” Those minors apparently included his sisters. Duggar was around 14 years old when the reported assaults took place.

Last week, The New York Times reported that “J. Dennis Hastert, the former speaker of the House of Representatives, was paying a man to not say publicly that Mr. Hastert had sexually abused him decades ago, according to two people briefed on the evidence uncovered in an F.B.I. investigation into the payments.”

The F.B.I. announced their indictment of Hastert on Thursday, and The Times reported: “The indictment said that in 2010, the man met with Mr. Hastert several times, and that at one of those meetings Mr. Hastert agreed to pay him $3.5 million ‘in order to compensate for and conceal his prior misconduct against’ the man.”

There were quick and clamorous reactions on social media and some mainstream media about the irony and even hypocrisy of these conservative icons being caught in unseemly, counter-their-apparent-convictions circumstances.

I understand this impulse. The contradiction is newsworthy. That dissimulation must be called out. But we shouldn’t stray far from focusing on, extending help to, and seeking to be sensitive to the survivors and using these cases educationally to better protect other children.

As a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, I can say with some authority that no one should take an ounce of joy in these revelations and accusations. This is not a political issue, even if people — including abusers themselves — have hypocritically used it as one.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

1 June, 2015

The Royal Commission has released a report that assesses the extent to which recommendations from previous, relevant inquiries have been implemented.

Royal Commission CEO Philip Reed said the report, prepared by the Parenting Research Centre, assesses the implementation of 288 recommendations from 67 inquiries. It also highlights factors that contributed to, or were barriers to, successful implementation based on consultation with public servants and other key stakeholders.

“The report found that the 64% of recommendations were implemented either partially (16%) or in full (48%). Twenty-one percent were rated as not implemented.

“It found that establishing processes and structures that support implementation, strong leadership and stakeholder engagement contributed to the successful implementation of recommendations.

“On the other hand, it found that resource and structural constraints and organisational culture were major factors that prevented the implementation of recommendations.

“The report reinforces the importance of meaningful consultation with stakeholders to ensure that recommendations are implemented effectively.

“The Royal Commission has held a number of roundtables and private meetings with key groups and government jurisdictions to ensure that their views and expertise are captured. We are also learning from survivors directly through private sessions and from survivor advocacy groups through our public and private consultations,” Mr Reed said.

Please note that the findings in this report were based on data received between September 2013 and February 2014. It is acknowledged that governments may have taken further action since these dates to implement recommendations.

You can read the report via this link: Report of Implementation of recommendations arising from previous inquiries

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SCOTLAND
BBC News

Police have been called in to investigate “financial irregularities” at a Catholic church in North Ayrshire.

The Diocese of Galloway said a report on the issue at St Mary’s (Our Lady Star of the Sea) in Saltcoats had been passed to Police Scotland on 27 May.

In a statement, the Diocese confirmed that Father Graeme Bell had resigned his position as parish priest with effect from 1 June.

It said inquiries were ongoing and the Diocese was assisting police.

A spokesman for the Diocese of Galloway said: “Father Graeme Bell recently received permission from Bishop Nolan, to take a leave of absence and to resign his position as Parish Priest of Our Lady, Star of the Sea, Saltcoats.

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SCOTLAND
STV

A catholic priest in North Ayrshire has been forced to leave his church after being arrested in connection with embezzlement offences.

Father Graeme Bell, the priest at Our Lady Star of the Sea which is also known as St Mary’s in Saltcoats, had already been due to leave the church on Monday.

However the 40-year-old was arrested on Wednesday as the police continue their investigation.

A spokesman for the Diocese of Galloway said: “Father Graeme Bell recently received permission from Bishop Nolan, to take a leave of absence and to resign his position as Parish Priest of Our Lady, Star of the Sea, Saltcoats.

“This was due to begin on Monday June 1. On Wednesday May 27 a report was passed to Police Scotland alleging financial irregularities in the parish.

“Police enquiries are ongoing and Father Bell has vacated the parish house. The Diocese of Galloway will continue to assist the police in their investigations.”

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CANADA
The Province

BY BETHANY LINDSAY, POSTMEDIA NEWS MAY 31, 2015

Confession is a tradition normally associated with Catholicism, but Christians from across the faith came together Sunday in Vancouver to confess to centuries of harm committed against Canada’s aboriginal population.

“We confess the smallness of our hearts which only have room for so few of God’s beloved children. We confess the damage we have caused to the First Nations of this land, which continues to destroy lives today,” reads a line in a prayer of confession led by Presbyterian, Anglican and United Church clergy in a multi-faith service at St. Andrew’s-Wesley United Church.

“God have mercy on us. Create new hearts within us,” the congregation of hundreds responded.

The service was part of a daylong event anticipating release of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee’s final report, set for Tuesday, after six years of research into Canada’s residential schools.

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CANADA
CBC News

By Michael Champagne, for CBC News

All Canadians are victims of Indian residential schools — whether you attended one of the schools, whether you’re an inter-generationally affected relative, a parent left behind or a non-aboriginal person in Canada who was fed a false history.

It’s important to also acknowledge much of the 96 per cent of Canada’s population that isn’t aboriginal have had their perceptions of indigenous people and communities altered in a negative way, because they haven’t grown up knowing the role their government played in killing the Indian in the child. The government that they learned about in school was a lot more mean spirited and malicious than many Canadians could ever imagine.

This weekend is the conclusion of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and has many people asking the question: “What next?” The spotlight will shine on the courage and resilience of survivors and I hope the rest of Canada is paying attention.

When the TRC began, only 49 per cent of Canadians knew about residential schools. Over six years later, I hope the hard work of the commission can be articulated with clear recommendations for community and for government to realize together. When I think of what our next collective step is I believe there are a few answers.

1) There can be no reconciliation until our women and children are safe:

This means we have to work together to address the normalized violence that has led to the astronomical number of missing and murdered indigenous women.

The solutions must include the voices of our women. It also means addressing the alarming rate of kids in the care of Child and Family Services in Manitoba — over 10,000 kids need our help to get healthy or back to their family.

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AUSTRALIA
BBC News

The Vatican’s finance chief George Pell is seeking legal advice after being accused of an “almost sociopathic” approach to child abuse allegations.

The allegations from Peter Saunders, a member of the Vatican’s own commission on child protection, come as Australia investigates historic abuses.

Australian-born Cardinal Pell denies accusations he helped cover up abuses by a paedophile priest.
He has offered to testify at the Australian inquiry.

Mr Saunders, himself a victim of abuse by a priest, was appointed by Pope Francis last year to the Vatican’s new commission to protect children.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

A victims’ advocate who once worked with George Pell says the cardinal needs to respond to claims that he protected known pedophile priests across Victoria, not just in Ballarat.

In Good Faith Foundation chief executive Helen Last says numerous pedophile priests across the state have been protected by the Catholic Church over the years, some while Cardinal Pell held top-ranking positions.

Ms Last worked in pastoral care with victims abused by Catholic priests in the Melbourne diocese at a time Cardinal Pell was the Archbishop of Melbourne.

Her job was to set up a response unit for victims that not only provided a caring environment but worked with police and therapists.

Ms Last said she never felt like her office had Cardinal Pell’s full support and claims he shut them down.

“It’s not only Ballarat that’s the problem, it’s the Melbourne archdiocese, Healesville, Sunbury, it’s Doveton,” Ms Last told 3AW radio on Monday.

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AUSTRALIA
Deutche Welle

Vatican finance chief George Pell has summoned his lawyers after a special commissioner of the Pope accused him of “disregard” for abused children. The Australian cardinal has rejected the accusations as “false”.

The Pope’s commissioner for the protection of children, Peter Saunders, said on Australian television that the Vatican finance chief George Pell should be dismissed. Speaking on Channel Nine’s 60 Minutes, he accused the Australian cardinal of having failed to take action to protect children from abuse in the Catholic Church of his home country.

“He has a catalogue of denigrating people, of acting with callousness, cold-heartedness, almost sociopathic I would go as far as to say, this lack of care,” said Peter Saunders, a British victim of child sexual abuse recently appointed by Pope Francis. He said Pell should be “moved aside” from his Vatican role and sent back to Australia to address a separate Australian abuse inquiry.

Formerly the Archbishop of Sydney and now the Vatican’s “Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy,” Pell summoned his lawyers on Monday. A statement issued by his office said the allegations were “false and misleading”.

Cardinal Pell repeatedly denied claims raised in an Australian abuse inquiry that he helped move priests accused of abuse to another parish or offered one victim inducements to drop a complaint.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

An outspoken member of Pope Francis’s child protection commission says he is not surprised George Pell is threatening him with legal action.

However, child abuse survivor Peter Saunders insists he will not shut up for anyone.

Mr Saunders has called on the Pope to “move aside” Cardinal Pell from his role as financial chief at the Vatican over claims he helped cover up pedophile activity in Australia.

Cardinal Pell, who denies the allegations, responded with a statement in which he says he has been left with no alternative but to “consult with his legal advisers”.

Mr Saunders said that was “very unfortunate, very sad and very unChristian”.

“The church, including the church in Australia, has a long history of spending an enormous amount of money on defending perpetrator priests and other clerics, so it doesn’t surprise me in the least that Cardinal Pell is resorting to using the massive resources of the Vatican to essentially consider threatening me in some way,” Mr Saunders told AAP on Monday.

The 58-year-old stressed he was speaking as a survivor and founder of Britain’s National Association for People Abused in Childhood – not in his capacity as a commissioner.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

[with audio]

By Gareth Boreham
1 JUN 2015

Australia’s most senior Catholic cleric has accused a senior Church official of making false and misleading claims about him and his response to child sexual abuse.

Cardinal George Pell’s remarks come in response to the Vatican’s child-protection adviser declaring the Cardinal’s position untenable

A victim of abuse himself, Peter Saunders now serves as the Catholic Church’s Commissioner for the Protection of Children.

As Gareth Boreham reports, he has been scathing of Cardinal Pell’s history in dealing with complaints against priests.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

By Melissa Meehan and Tracey Ferrier
June 1, 2015

Cardinal George Pell will be asked to give evidence at the royal commission into child sex abuse as the Catholic Church has asked Australians to give him a fair go.

The commission will ask him to return from Rome to appear in the second of the Ballarat hearings later this year.

“The Chair has received a letter from Cardinal Pell indicating that he is prepared to come to Australia to give evidence,” the commission said in a statement on Monday.

He has promised full co-operation with the royal commission.

Cardinal Pell came under fire following claims aired in the first Ballarat hearings last month that he offered bribes or ignored warnings about Australia’s worst paedophile priest, Gerald Ridsdale, in the 1970s.

Many survivors of abuse demanded the Vatican’s finance chief appear again at the commission to answer the claims he has already repeatedly denied.

The Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne came out in Cardinal Pell’s defence on Monday urging people to hold off from making hasty judgments.

“I hope all Australians who believe in a fair go will give Cardinal Pell the opportunity to answer the criticisms that have been raised in both the royal commission and the media before drawing any final conclusions,” Archbishop Denis Hart said in a statement on Monday.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Ed Salter and Haroon Siddique
Sunday 31 May 2015

The Catholic church has been accused of pressuring one of its senior figures to censor extracts of his memoirs relating to a sexual abuse scandal.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, the former leader of the church in England and Wales, is said to have been forced to cut chunks from his new book relating to the crisis in his ministry in which he failed to report a paedophile priest to the police and let him continue working. The clergyman, Michael Hill, was later jailed twice for sexually assaulting young victims.

Among the sections understood to have been cut is one in which Murphy-O’Connor defends the right to protect priests when they have erred. Murphy-O’Connor, while Bishop of Arundel and Brighton, moved Hill to the chaplaincy at Gatwick airport despite being warned he was a danger to young people. The cardinal faced calls to resign over the scandal.

In the published version of An English Spring, the extract about the duty towards fellow clergy is said to have been replaced with a lament about bishops’ failure to prioritise abuse victims over their priests.

Associates of the cardinal, who did not wish to be named, told the Guardian that he had been obliged to censor his work. One said: “A number of us, his friends, were asked to read the typescript in draft. I understand that pressure was put on the cardinal by church authorities to excise sections of the chapter on Michael Hill along with other material in the book.”

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

June 1, 2015

Phil Cleary

In my 1998 book Cleary Independent, I wrote of feeling “a shock wave of apprehension when a Christian Brother opened the door one night at a retreat and asked, ‘Do you need to be tucked in?’ The same bloke had earlier taken me to the presbytery for what he called a ‘vocational talk’. When he inquired as to the level of my sexual knowledge and the operations of particular parts, I sought my leave.” It was 1966 and I was 13 years of age when I escaped the Brother’s clutches.

After reading the book, “Tim” sent me an email saying that the Brother in question, Keith Weston, had routinely masturbated him and a number of other boys at St Joseph’s College, Pascoe Vale. I’d not named Weston for fear of defamation action had the rumour mill been wrong about his abuse of young boys. In 2004, 81-year-old Weston pleaded guilty to molesting the boys, but due to prostate cancer and failing health received a suspended two-and-a-half-year jail sentence. That prompted a letter from one of the boys which in part read: “We nailed old ‘Tex’ Keith Weston … an evil, prolific, cruel, mean, predatory, paedophile …”

I can’t properly explain why I didn’t tell my parents, or someone didn’t blow the whistle on Weston (who is now dead). It’s hard to believe other Brothers or those in the top echelons of the Church didn’t know about his abuse at various Catholic schools. I’ll never forget the fear that gripped us when he went on the warpath after a few drinks over lunch.

Watching Catholic priest Gerald Ridsdale last week tell the royal commission into institutionalised responses to sexual abuse that his crimes were a consequence of a disease, brought back the dark memories. It was nauseating. Like Weston, Ridsdale wasn’t a victim of some disease. He was just another bad bastard misusing power for no other reason than personal gratification. So while it was important to hear from Ridsdale, he should never have been allowed to assume victimhood and should have been rebuked when he did.

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AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times

[with video]

June 1, 2015

Lisa Visentin

It’s no secret that Cardinal George Pell has come under sustained criticism in recent years as damning allegations of systemic cover-ups by the Catholic Church have surfaced during the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

But until this week, his detractors have been largely Australian and the public censure cauterised at a domestic level. This has been the case even as he ascended to the upper echelons of the Vatican after taking up a coveted role managing the Holy See’s finances in February last year.

Enter Peter Saunders, a British child abuse survivor and the man hand-picked by Pope Francis to advise the church on child protection policies. Last year, he joined the nine-member commission, called the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, which was established by the Pope to address the scourge of sex abuse within the church and which reports directly to him.

On Sunday, he became a powerful voice in the growing crescendo demanding Cardinal Pell be called to account for his role as a senior member of Australia’s Catholic clergy during the decades from which countless claims of abuse have emerged.

Mr Saunders’ comments come as questions have intensified over whether Cardinal Pell had supported notorious paedophile priests, including Gerald Ridsdale, instead of protecting victims and their families. He has repeatedly denied these accusations.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian Women’s Weekly

Cardinal George Pell has been called a “dangerous individual” and “almost sociopathic” by Peter Saunders, who was recently appointed by Pope Francis to protect minors in the catholic church.

And now a spokesperson for Cardinal Pell has said Australia’s most senior catholic cardinal will seek legal advice over Saunders’ statements.

“The false and misleading claims made against His Eminence are outrageous. The the Cardinal is left no alternative but to consult with his legal advisers,” said a statement issued on his behalf.

“Cardinal Pell has never met Mr Saunders, who seems to have formed his strong opinions without ever having spoken to His Eminence.”

“From his earliest actions as an archbishop, Cardinal Pell has taken a strong stand against child sexual abuse and put in place processes to enable complaints to be brought forward and independently investigated.”

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AUSTRALIA
WA Today

June 1, 2015

Steve Dow

Cardinal George Pell should stop making threats and make good on his promise to return home and appear before the royal commission.

Cardinal George Pell’s deep bass tone has taken an ugly, threatening turn. His thinly veiled threat to sool the lawyers on Peter Saunders for the abuse survivor’s 60 Minutes interview shows a Catholic Church deeply disconnected from public opinion that demands free speech be heard and children be protected.

Saunders, founder of a British charity for abuse victims and handpicked by Pope Francis to sit on the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, told the Channel Nine program that Pell was a “massive thorn” to the papacy and should be moved aside: “He has a catalogue of denigrating people, of acting with callousness, cold-heartedness, almost sociopathic I would go as far as to say, this lack of care.”

This internecine Vatican volley of words may well be defamatory, but how pathetic that the cardinal cannot see beyond his own bruised ego. Pell’s spokesman fired back that Saunders has never met Pell, the former Melbourne and Sydney archbishop: “The false and misleading claims made against his eminence are outrageous … there is no excuse for broadcasting incorrect and prejudicial material.”

His imperious “eminence” should drop the lawyerly threats, then put all his thinking into planning for the appearance he finally last week promised, to return home and make if requested by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. We need to know what he has to say, for instance, about the allegations of abuse in Ballarat, and whether he was complicit in moving Australia’s worst paedophile priest, Gerald Ridsdale, to another parish.

Here’s my tip: when he finally does appear before the royal commission, he will obfuscate and protect his and the church’s own naked self-interest. Way back in late 2002, I sat down with Pell in his office near Sydney’s St Mary’s Cathedral. He was by this time Archbishop of Sydney, having moved up from Melbourne.

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AUSTRALIA
Radio New Zealand

The allegations came from Peter Saunders, a member of the Vatican’s own commission on child protection.

Mr Saunders told Australian media the cardinal was a “massive thorn” in the side of the papacy.

Cardinal Pell has offered to testify in a major Australian inquiry into institutional child sex abuse.

He is accused of silencing a victim of a paedophile priest and aiding the priest’s move to another parish.

Mr Saunders, who was appointed by Pope Francis last year to the new commission to protect children, on Sunday said Cardinal Pell – the most senior Australian Catholic cardinal – had a “catalogue of denial” about child abuse in the church.

Mr Saunders told Channel Nine TV the cardinal should be sent back to Australia.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

[with video]

SHANNON DEERY HERALD SUN JUNE 01, 2015

CARDINAL George Pell will be asked to appear at the Royal Commission later this year.

Pressure has been building on the commission to formally request the Cardinal’s appearance at the second stage of the Ballarat hearings.

Because he lives at the Vatican, as an adviser to Pope Francis, he cannot be summonsed.

But in a statement today the Royal Commission said they had formally asked Dr Pell to appear.

He has reiterated his willingness to cooperate with the commission on several occasions.

The appearance will be his third during the commission’s hearings.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Cardinal George Pell will be called to the royal commission into child sexual abuse’s second hearings in Ballarat, the commission has said.

Cardinal Pell wrote to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse on May 21 saying he was willing to appear before the inquiry.

In a statement released on Monday afternoon, the commission said that he would be called to appear when the inquiry meets again in Ballarat, later this year.

“In the ordinary course, witnesses are summonsed to appear at a hearing,” the royal commission said in a statement.

“However a person resident overseas cannot be summonsed.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Melissa Davey
@MelissaLDavey

Monday 1 June 2015

Cardinal George Pell has been asked to give evidence to the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse at its second hearings in Ballarat later this year.

On Monday afternoon, a commission spokeswoman said a person living overseas could not be summonsed by the commission to appear.

However, the commission had received a letter from Pell indicating that he was prepared to come to Australia to give evidence, the spokeswoman said.

“The royal commission will ask him to give evidence in the second of the Ballarat hearings,” she said.

Pell has repeatedly denied allegations of covering up abuse and has said he has always cooperated fully with the royal commission.

The announcement follows a call by child sexual abuse victim Peter Saunders for Cardinal George Pell to be removed.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Adam Brereton

Cardinal George Pell has said he’ll return to Australia to give evidence at the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse, if he is required to do so. The recent revelations from Ballarat are so horrifying as to beggar belief and I expect he will honour the commission’s request for him to appear later this year. We naturally want to know the full extent of the cardinal’s knowledge about the paedophile priest Gerald Risdale. And justice – natural, and divine – demands Pell give the commission and the public the full story.

Yet whether we like it or not, the royal commission is not a court conducting a criminal trial. Nor is it an inquiry into George Pell. Whether you conceive of the Cardinal as the Great Satan or a priest ahead of his time in dealing with child abuse (a view that is still prevalent among Catholics), litigating his personality on 60 Minutes or through Gerard Henderson’s nuggets of pedantry in the Australian does little to deliver justice for victims.

Of course, when the powerful refuse to humble themselves, stripping them of their mystique is a kind of justice in and of itself. Yet the cardinal’s reputation can hardly fall more in the eyes of the Australian public and among some sections of the church.

As an observer of the commission and as a Christian, what I want to see is an acknowledgement that the situation has begun to change. Two years into the commission’s work, will anyone admit Pell is no longer the biggest obstacle to justice for victims? The reluctance to do so is pervasive on either side of the divide: the cardinal’s defenders barely know how to do anything else but fight rearguard actions; and his critics want to see Pell caught out in a lie, or a smoking gun document produced.

Yet the commission is already beginning to move forward, recommending a federal redress scheme, funded with co-operation from the states and organisations in which abuse has taken place. Mediation, restorative justice, apologies from those in positions of power and ongoing financial and counselling support for victims are at its core; it is in line with what victims have told the commission they want and represents best practice in alternative dispute resolution and the like. The final report on this and related matters is weeks away.

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AUSTRALIA
Hindustand Times

Reuters

The Catholic Church’s commissioner for the protection of children has described the Vatican’s finance chief as having an almost sociopathic disregard for abused children, accusations that the Australian cardinal rejected as wrong and misleading.

Pope Francis’s newly appointed child abuse commissioner, Peter Saunders, said on Australian television that the Vatican’s prefect for the Secretariat for the Economy, Australian-born Cardinal George Pell, should be dismissed over allegations that he failed to take action to protect children from abuse at the hands of clergymen in Australia.

“He is making a mockery of the papal commission (into child abuse), of the Pope himself, but most of all of the victims and the survivors,” Saunders said on Channel Nine’s 60 Minutes Australia on Sunday.

“He has a catalogue of denigrating people, of acting with callousness, cold-heartedness, and an almost sociopathic lack of care,” said Saunders, himself a British victim of sexual abuse as a minor.

He said Pell should be “moved aside” and sent back to Australia to address a separate Australian abuse inquiry, which confirmed on Monday that it would ask Pell to testify. No date, however, has been set, nor is it currently clear wether the cardinal would have to testify in person.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

June 1, 2015

Jane Lee

Cardinal George Pell will be asked to give evidence at the second royal commission into child sexual abuse in Ballarat later this year.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse made the announcement on Monday afternoon. Commission chair, Justice Peter McClellan, had received Cardinal Pell’s letter, which indicated that he was prepared to come to Australia to give evidence if required.

“The royal commission will ask him to give evidence in the second of the Ballarat hearings,” said the statement.

The first Ballarat hearing, which focused on survivors and the impact of child sexual abuse on the community, ended on Friday. The date for the second Ballarat hearing has not yet been fixed.

The commission said it would ordinarily summon witnesses to appear. “However a person resident overseas cannot be summonsed,” the statement said.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

The Catholic Church of Melbourne is urging Australians to give George Pell a fair go, saying the cardinal has worked hard to rid the church of the evil of clergy sexual abuse.

Following damning criticism of Cardinal Pell in the wake of the Royal Commission into child sex abuse in Ballarat, the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne has responded with a statement urging people to hold off from making hasty judgments.

Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart said today he hopes all Australians who believe in a fair go will give Cardinal Pell the opportunity to answer the criticisms that have been raised in both the Royal Commission and the media before drawing any final conclusions. In a statement on Monday the royal commission said international residents could not be summonsed to appear at a hearing.

But because Cardinal Pell has expressed his intention to fully co-operate with the investigations they would ask him to give evidence.

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AUSTRALIA
Hurriyet Daily News (Turkey)

AFP

Vatican finance chief George Pell was called June 1 to give evidence at an inquiry into sex abuse as one of Pope Francis’ commissioners for the protection of children accused him of being “almost sociopathic”.

Formerly the top Catholic cleric in Australia, Cardinal Pell has become embroiled in the probe in his homeland which last week heard evidence from paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale, who abused at least 50 boys over two decades.

Pell, who accompanied Ridsdale to court in 1993 when he admitted widespread abuse, has repeatedly denied knowing about any of the offences, helping move the priest to another parish or that he tried to bribe a victim to keep him quiet.

That victim was his nephew, David Ridsdale, who alleged he confided in family friend Pell about the assaults and that he was asked by him what it would cost to buy his silence.

Other victims had demanded Pell, who was appointed by Pope Francis in February 2014 to make the Vatican’s finances more transparent, return to give evidence to The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
International Business Times

By Kukil Bora

The Vatican’s finance chief George Pell called for his lawyers Monday after a specially-appointed member of the church’s commission on child protection accused him of being “almost sociopathic,” and said that his position was “untenable.” Pell, the former top Catholic cleric in Australia, allegedly aided a pedophile priest and bribed one of his victims to keep quiet.

The allegations came from Peter Saunders, who was appointed by Pope Francis six months ago to be one of the members of the Vatican’s commission on child protection. Saunders said that Pell, who accompanied Gerald Ridsdale to court in 1993 when the latter admitted to widespread child abuse, was a “massive thorn” in the side of the papacy, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported.

“He [Pell] has a catalogue of denigrating people, of acting with callousness, cold-heartedness, almost sociopathic I would go as far as to say, this lack of care,” Saunders said, according to ABC, adding: “Given the position of George Pell as a cardinal of the church and a position of huge authority within the Vatican, I think he is a massive, massive thorn in the side of Pope Francis’s papacy if he’s allowed to remain.”

However, a spokesperson for Pell said Monday that Saunders’ claims were “false and misleading,” and accused him of making strong statements without first speaking to the Pope.

“From his earliest actions as an archbishop, Cardinal Pell has taken a strong stand against child sexual abuse and put in place processes to enable complaints to be brought forward and independently investigated,” the spokesperson said in a statement, according to ABC.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

Cardinal George Pell WILL have to give evidence at royal commission into horrific child abuse in Victoria

Cardinal George Pell will be asked to give evidence at the royal commission into child sex abuse in the second of the Ballarat hearings.

Cardinal Pell wrote to the Royal Commission last month saying he was willing to appear before the inquiry in Australia.

In a statement on Monday the royal commission said international residents could not be summonsed to appear at a hearing.

But because Cardinal Pell has expressed his intention to fully co-operate with the investigations they would ask him to give evidence.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Melissa Davey
@MelissaLDavey
Sunday 31 May 2015

George Pell has threatened legal action after a member of the Vatican’s commission for the protection of children accused him of “making a mockery” of child sexual abuse victims.

Peter Saunders, himself a victim of child sexual abuse, said Pell, Australia’s most senior Catholic cardinal, had an “almost sociopathic” disregard for victims of child sexual abuse through his repeated denial of any knowledge of abuse within the church.

But a statement issued on Pell’s behalf on Monday said: “The false and misleading claims made against His Eminence are outrageous. The cardinal is left no alternative but to consult with his legal advisers.”

Saunders had earlier told Channel Nine, “I personally think his position is untenable, because he has now a catalogue of denials, he has a catalogue of denigrating people, of acting with callousness, coldheartedness, [he is] almost sociopathic I would go so far as to say.

“He is making a mockery of the papal commission, of the pope himself, but most of all, of victims and survivors.”

As the head of the Vatican’s finances, Pell is one of the Pope’s most trusted advisors and is Australia’s most senior Catholic.

During hearings of Australia’s royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse, held in the Victorian town of Ballarat last week, a victim of notorious paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale accused Pell of bribing him to keep quiet about the abuse. The commission also heard Pell was involved in the decision to move Ridsdale between parishes when his abuses came to light.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Cardinal George Pell says he will seek legal advice after a specially appointed member of the Vatican’s commission on child protection accused him of being “almost sociopathic” and called his position “untenable”.

A spokesperson for Cardinal Pell called the statements by abuse survivor Peter Saunders “false and misleading”, after Mr Saunders called for Cardinal Pell to be sent back to Australia.

“From his earliest actions as an archbishop, Cardinal Pell has taken a strong stand against child sexual abuse and put in place processes to enable complaints to be brought forward and independently investigated,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

“Cardinal Pell has never met Mr Saunders, who seems to have formed his strong opinions without ever having spoken to His Eminence.

“In light of all of the available material, including evidence from the Cardinal under oath, there is no excuse for broadcasting incorrect and prejudicial material.

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Monday 1 June 2015

A CATHOLIC priest is under police investigation over thousands of pounds of missing church funds stretching back years.

Shocked parishioners were told in a statement from their bishop that Father Graeme Bell, parish priest at Our Lady Star of the Sea in Saltcoats, North Ayrshire, was facing the probe after concerns came to light in recent days.

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UNITED STATES
Salon

BROOKE ARNOLD

Unlike most of the writers covering the Duggar sex scandal, I was raised in Advanced Training Institute (ATI), the fundamentalist Christian organization with which the family is affiliated. Joshua Duggar’s confession of sexually molesting young girls in his family’s home when he was a teenager didn’t surprise me, nor should it surprise anyone with any intimate knowledge about this organization, because ATI’s theological beliefs and practices cultivate an environment where women and children are more vulnerable to rape and sexual abuse. Ironically, the same theological beliefs and practices at the heart of this scandal are the same beliefs that created the Duggars as a media phenomenon, and drew viewers and fans to their TLC show “19 Kids and Counting.”

Non-mainstream religious sects have certainly been enjoying a cultural moment on television: “The Following,” “Sister Wives,” “Breaking Amish.” Netflix’s dark comedy “The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” explores the media hype around religious cult survivors in satirical detail. For me, though, that show should have come with a trigger warning, because in many ways, I am a real Kimmy Schmidt — a woman who spent her adolescence trapped inside a metaphorical bunker, and then was thrust into a world that she had never been prepared to be a part of.

The Duggars didn’t emerge from a subterranean bunker, though. They’ve been on TV promoting the fundamentalist Christian theology of ATI since their first special in 2004 (“14 Children and Pregnant Again!”). ATI is a Christian homeschool organization that hosts seminars worldwide, provides homeschooling curriculum, and even runs its own paramilitary training center. At one point, it was strongly affiliated with a Christian correspondence course law school. Its members are not concentrated in one area, and yet they maintain insular groups and often form churches in which all members are affiliated with ATI and/or follow its basic principles. Referred to as “Gothardism” within fundamentalist Christian circles, the teachings of ATI form an ideological system of practices based on the extremely strict, fundamentalist, and idiosyncratic Biblical interpretations of the organization’s founder, Bill Gothard – a man who, in 2014, stepped down as head of ATI following allegations of sexual misconduct with young girls.

The allegations against “Mr. Gothard” (as he is respectfully and worshipfully referred to by his acolytes) were an open secret among group members for many years. As a friend who worked at ATI headquarters once said to me with a wink: “The prettiest girls are always chosen to work the closest with Mr Gothard.”

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

Cardinal George Pell is facing fresh demands to return to Australia to front the child abuse royal commission.

Peter Saunders, who was hand-picked by the Pope six months ago to be the Catholic Church’s commissioner for the protection of children, says Cardinal Pell has a moral obligation to face the commission.

Child protection advocate Hetty Johnston has echoed the call, saying the church must order the cardinal home to give evidence, even if it is only to clear his name.

Cardinal Pell, incensed over Mr Saunders’ allegations about his conduct in an interview with the Nine Network’s 60 Minutes, has issued a statement saying he is seeking legal advice over what he calls false and misleading claims.

“The Cardinal is left no alternative but to consult with his legal advisers,” a statement issued on behalf of Cardinal Pell said.

Cardinal Pell has repeatedly denied claims he tried to bribe an abuse victim to keep quiet and he was dismissive of and dealt heartlessly with victims and their families.

But Mr Saunders told 60 Minutes the cardinal’s position in the church had become untenable “because he now has a catalogue of denials”.

“Given the position of George Pell as a cardinal of the church and a position of huge authority within the Vatican, I think he is a massive, massive thorn in the side of Pope Francis’s papacy if he’s allowed to remain,” he said.

The statement issued on behalf of Cardinal Pell said he had always taken a strong stand against child sex abuse and had put in place processes to ensure complaints could be brought forward and independently investigated.

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AUSTRALIA
The New Daily

Jun 1, 2015
KAITLIN THALS

Cardinal George Pell will consult his legal team over “false and misleading claims” about his handling of child abuse cases within the Catholic Church.

This move came after a specially appointed member of the Vatican’s commission on child protection accused Cardinal Pell of being “almost sociopathic” in his treatment of abuse victims.

Peter Saunders, who was hand-picked by the Pope six months ago to be the Catholic Church’s commissioner for the protection of children, said Cardinal Pell’s position in the church had become “untenable”.

“He has a catalogue of denigrating people, of acting with callousness, cold-heartedness, almost sociopathic I would go as far as to say, this lack of care,” Mr Saunders told the Nine Network Sunday night.

Cardinal Pell has consistently denied allegations made against him in regard to his handling of child abuse by clergymen.

By Monday morning, a spokesperson for the cardinal had condemned Mr Saunders’ comments.

“From his earliest actions as an archbishop Cardinal Pell has taken a strong stand against child sexual abuse and put in place processes, to enable complaints to be brought forward and independently investigated,” the spokesperson said statement.

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AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times

Cardinal George Pell’s record with abuse survivors makes his position ‘untenable’ according to one of the Pope’s child protection officials, Peter Saunders, himself a victim of sexual abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

Cardinal George Pell is facing fresh demands to return to Australia to front the child abuse royal commission.

Peter Saunders, who was hand-picked by the Pope six months ago to be the Catholic Church’s commissioner for the protection of children, says Cardinal Pell has a moral obligation to face the commission.

Child protection advocate Hetty Johnston has echoed the call, saying the church must order the cardinal home to give evidence, even if it is only to clear his name.

Cardinal Pell, incensed over Mr Saunders’ allegations about his conduct in an interview with the Nine Network’s 60 Minutes, has issued a statement saying he is seeking legal advice over what he calls false and misleading claims.

‘The Cardinal is left no alternative but to consult with his legal advisers,’ a statement issued on behalf of Cardinal Pell said.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Press TV (Iran)

Britain’s child protection chief says the UK does not have enough land to build prisons and put all of its child sex abusers behind bars.

The Deputy Children’s Commissioner for England, Sue Berelowitz, who is currently chairing a government inquiry into the problem, pointed out that the public would be shocked by the sheer scale of the problem when she reports in November, the Telegraph said.

She blamed the spread of pornography through the Internet and social media for the growing problem of an increasingly sexualized society.

Speaking at the Hay Festival, Mrs Berelowitz said: “We live in a highly sexualized world in which for the most part it is considered quite acceptable to do as they want with females, and too many females think that is something they must comply with because they think it is a part of growing up.”

“Child porn and the proliferation of indecent images of children, and all the stuff we are seeing on social media which is undoubtedly having an impact on young people growing up and their impressions of sex and sexuality.

“I want us to keep in mind that people who sexually abuse children are somehow another breed. They are here and in our midst.

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ILLINOIS
Washington Post

After indictment, Wheaton College removes Dennis Hastert from center named after him

By Sarah Pulliam Bailey May 31

The scandal brewing around Dennis Hastert this week spread into his evangelical faith community with news that he stepped down from a board position at Wheaton College – the prominent evangelical school from which he graduated and where he established a major research and study program.

The former Speaker of the House has resigned from the school’s board of advisers of its J. Dennis Hastert Center for Economics, Government, and Public Policy, a $10 million project housed in the college’s politics, international relations, business and economics departments. On Sunday, the school announced that it changed the name of the center to the Wheaton College Center for Economics, Government, and Public Policy.

Allegations surfaced this week that Hastert sexually molested a male victim to whom he recently paid hush money in violation of federal banking laws, according to a federal law enforcement official briefed on the case.

Hastert, 73, was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury on charges that he violated banking laws in a bid to pay $3.5 million to someone to cover up “past misconduct.” Hastert, who has been a lobbyist in Washington since his 2007 retirement from Congress, attempted to hide more than $950,000 in withdrawals, according to the indictment. The indictment did not spell out the exact nature of the “prior misconduct” by Hastert.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Life

June 1, 2015

Kerrie Armstrong

Cardinal George Pell is “a dangerous individual” and “almost sociopathic” in his response to child sexual abuse victims, Pope Francis’ specially-appointed commissioner for the protection of children, Peter Saunders, says.

In an interview with Channel 9’s 60 Minutes, Mr Saunders said Cardinal Pell had a “moral responsibility” to front the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and address allegations that he knew of priests abusing children in Ballarat and elsewhere but did nothing to stop it. Cardinal Pell has denied these accusations.

“I personally think that his position is untenable, because he has now a catalogue of denials,” Mr Saunders said in the interview which aired on Sunday night. “He has a catalogue of denigrating people, of acting with callousness, cold-heartedness – almost sociopathic, I would go as far as to say – this lack of care.”

Pope Francis last December appointed Mr Saunders, himself a survivor of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, to the new Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors to ensure the Catholic Church acted with greater accountability and transparency in relation to child sexual abuse.

Mr Saunders said by refusing to front the royal commission until he was specifically invited, Cardinal Pell was “making a mockery of the Papal Commission, of the Pope himself, but most of all, of the victims and the survivors”.

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CANADA
CBC News

An estimated 7,000 to 10,000 people walked through downtown Ottawa-Gatineau in an effort to “transform and renew” the relationship between aboriginal people and other Canadians as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada prepares to release its final report on Tuesday.

“It’s a dark chapter in Canada’s history, no question. It was cultural genocide,” said National Chief Perry Bellegarde, head of the Assembly of First Nations, who took part in the walk on Sunday.

“There’s a lot of young ones that didn’t come home to their families, communities. There’s a lot of death there. We’ve got to remember and honour those [deaths], that we learn from that and honour their spirits.”

The commission, struck in 2009, has been writing an exhaustive history of the residential school system. The commissioners interviewed more than 7,000 people across the country and the final report, which is expected to be released on June 2, will span six volumes and more than two million words.

At least 6,000 aboriginal children died while in the residential school system, according to commission chair Justice Murray Sinclair, though poor record-keeping has made an exact figure difficult to pinpoint.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

By AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
31 May 2015

Cardinal George Pell is seeking legal advice over what he’s called false and misleading claims about his handling of child abuse cases within the Catholic Church.

Peter Saunders, who was hand-picked by the Pope six months ago to be the Catholic Church’s commissioner for the protection of children, says Cardinal Pell’s position in the church has become “untenable”.

“The false and misleading claims made against His Eminence are outrageous. The Cardinal is left no alternative but to consult with his legal advisers,” a statement issued on behalf of Cardinal Pell said.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

One of the single most important lessons I have learned in following closely the Vatican’s scandals for over five years is that you cannot really trust Vatican officials’ statements as the “full truth so help me God!”

This was just evident in a recent investigative TV report about Cardinal George Pell. Peter Saunders, a member of the pope’s abuse commission, as well as a parent and a survivor of childhood sexual abuse by two priests, spoke about the pope’s shameful top financial aide, Cardinal Pell, in a remarkable interview here on Australia’s 60 Minutes.

In the 60 Minutes segment, two video excerpts of Pell’s testimony on a key fact are shown. Pell makes a denial in an informal 2002 60 Minutes interview of a significant fact relating to a young abuse victim who committed suicide. In the second video in 2013, apparently under oath before a parliamentary investigation commission, with serious legal consequences for false statements, Pell “suddenly” remembered the significant fact and appears to have reversed himself completely.

Pell’s seemingly long history of denials include his acknowledgement in 2013 that he had “probably” been shown a photograph of the slashed wrists of the child abuse victim, after he previously indicated inn 2002 that he had never seen it. The victim’s parents had earlier shown Pell the photo of their daughter Emma, who was abused by Fr. Kevin O’Donnell. These parents’ other daughter, Katie, was also a victim of this priest. Emma went on to take her own life in 2008.

In a 2002 interview with 60 Minutes reporter, Richard Carleton, Pell denied he had ever seen the picture of the slashed wrists, before changing his position two years ago. In his recent slippery response, Pell stated, “Probably, but let’s put this in context. Now we know that was an attempted suicide, you’ve got to understand, this was a…. the production of this photo was something sudden, I didn’t have a chance for a considered response.”

Right! Why would anyone expect Pell to remember a picture of the slashed writs of a priest child abuse victim shown to him by upset parents? If the pope wants to maintain even a prayer of credibility on curtailing priest child abuse and on holding Church leaders accountable, Pell must go pronto!

Pope Francis appealingly called on Catholics to “create a mess” but, instead, by his slick approach, he has paradoxically created his own expanding mess, which may be his last as pope! Many lifetime indoctrinated Catholics may behave as “dumb sheep” at times; I did, but few of them in the Internet Age remain as “blind sheep”.

Until now, the Vatican has mostly avoided various national prosecutors. The pope and his high priced consultants and lawyers have also so far buried the financial scandals in over hyped committees that he still controls unaccountably, most significantly with no public audits of the Vatican’s own wealth even on the horizon.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Breitbart

by SARKIS ZERONIAN
31 May 2015

Allegations that a politician was among those accused of repeatedly raping a girl over a four year period have prompted a former Liberal Democrat MP to identify himself to investigators in order to deny it.

The MP in question spoke to the investigative website Exaro on condition of anonymity in order to rebut his alleged victim’s account of long-term sexual abuse. He cannot be named for legal reasons but Exaro states that “he has no publicly-known connection with Staffordshire.”

Earlier this week Esther Baker, 32, waived anonymity to speak to Sky News about being sexually abused in woodland on Cannock Chase, Staffordshire. She described being raped over a four year period from the age of six by the former MP, as well as other men including a dead Labour Cabinet Minister, a Lord and a judge. The abuse is said to have occurred while uniformed police officers stood guard, some of whom are said to have joined in.

Exaro reports that a further two women have come forward with similar allegations against the same politician. One of the women contacted Staffordshire Police after seeing Baker on Sky News, but the other pre-dated the news footage having come forward through the Chuch of England last month. The Church of England has no connection to the abuse allegations.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Live

31 MAY 2015
BY CHRIS MCCULLOUGH

One of the Kincora Boys’ Home victims is taking legal action to force a full independent inquiry into the child abuse with the power to compel witnesses and the security services to hand over documents.

Gary Hoy, who was abused by two of the men who were subsequently convicted, is due to challenge Kincora’s exclusion from the inquiry in Belfast High Court tomorrow.

The move comes as Amnesty International has also called for the investigation into child abuse at the home in east Belfast to be included in the wider Westminster child abuse inquiry.

The government has so far refused calls for the paedophile abuse scandal at the Belfast home to be included within the scope of the inquiry established by Home Secretary Theresa May and headed by New Zealand judge Lowell Goddard.

The judicial review case, to commence a three-day hearing in Belfast High Court tomorrow morning, will hear allegations that MI5 was involved in covering up the sexual abuse of children in order to protect an intelligence-gathering operation it ran in the 1970s.

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MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Sunday, May 31

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

The Kansas City Archdiocese’s school superintendent claims she hasn’t read a copy of a lawsuit against her that was filed at least two weeks ago. We think she’s lying.

[Kansas City Star]

The suit was filed in mid-May. In it, a Kansas City Kansas mom charges that Catholic officials falsely accused her of child abuse, ignored bullying against her daughter and then, in retaliation against her, called a state child abuse hotline accusing her of mistreating her own daughter.

[KSHB]

According to today’ KC Star, “a spokeswoman provided a response from archdiocesan superintendent of schools Kathy O’Hara, who said no one would be able to comment on the lawsuit because the archdiocese had not yet seen it.”

The suit was disclosed publicly on May 18 by KSHB Channel 4 in Kansas City by reporter Brendaliss Gonzalez.

[The Raw Story]

Among those accused of wrongdoing in the case are O’Hara, a priest, and Maureen Engen, the principal of Sacred Heart Catholic school in Shawnee where the alleged bullying took place.

This mother, Melissa Schroeder, did everything right in this case. She consulted with doctors, got help for her daughter, tried to stop bullying, persisted when school staff took little or no action, went up the “chain of command” in the archdiocese, called police and publicly spoken out against this mistreatment.. We commend her for her courage and compassion and hope she and her family feel some comfort knowing that her lawsuit may shine a bright light on this awful behavior by Catholic church and school officials.

We agree with her attorney, Sarah Brown, who said she should be “praised, not persecuted.”

We hope that anyone who might have seen, suspected or suffered wrongdoing of any kind in the Kansas City archdiocese will speak up. Only by coming forward, calling police, filing lawsuits, exposing misdeeds, and deterring cover ups will kids be safer from bullying and abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

A specially appointed member of the Vatican’s commission on child protection has accused Cardinal George Pell of being “almost sociopathic” in his treatment of victims.

Peter Saunders, himself a survivor of abuse, called for Cardinal Pell to be sent back to Australia and said he had a moral responsibility to appear before the royal commission into child sexual abuse.

Mr Saunders was appointed by Pope Francis last year to the new commission to protect children.

His comments follow the royal commission’s latest hearings in Ballarat which last week focused on the crimes of priest Gerald Ridsdale.

Cardinal Pell has denied he tried to bribe a victim to keep quiet and that he was dismissive of victims and their families.

“Personally I think that his position is untenable because he has now a catalogue of denials,” Mr Saunders told Channel Nine.

“He has a catalogue of denigrating people, of acting with callousness, cold-heartedness, almost sociopathic I would go as far as to say, this lack of care.

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AUSTRALIA
Vocal Republic

CARDINAL George Pell has been condemned over his remedy of abuse victims by the person hand-picked by the Pope to guard youngsters within the Catholic Church.

In a unprecedented assault aired on Channel 9’s 60 Minutes, Peter Saunders stated the cardinal had acted with “callousness” and “cold-heartedness”.

Pope Francis’s specifically appointed commissioner for the safety of youngsters added:“I feel it’s essential that he’s moved apart — that he’s despatched again to Australia and that the Pope takes the strongest motion towards him.”

Up to now fortnight, the Royal Fee into institutional responses to youngster sexual abuse heard damning proof in Ballarat towards Father Gerald Ridsdale, Australia’s worst paedophile priest. Witnesses accused Pell of ignoring warnings about Ridsdale, and one claims Pell tried to silence him with a bribe, an allegation he has beforehand denied.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

A top advisor to the Pope has slammed Cardinal George Pell, saying Australia’s most senior Catholic should step down from his position at the Vatican.

Peter Saunders, who was hand-picked by Pope Francis six months ago to work as the Catholic Church’s commissioner for the protection of children, said Cardinal Pell’s position was “untenable”.

Speaking to 60 Minutes reporter Tara Brown, Mr Saunders said the cardinal’s repeated denials concerning his alleged knowledge of the occurrence of child abuse perpetrated by Catholic priests in Victoria were “cold” and “callous”.

“I personally think that his position is untenable. Because he has now a catalogue of denials – he has a catalogue of denigrating people, of acting with callousness, cold-heartedness.”

Cardinal Pell, who is the Head of Finances at the Vatican, has been under fire since fresh allegations emerged last week at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse in Ballarat, that he deliberately turned a blind eye to child molestation.

Mr Pell’s history of denials include his acknowledgement in 2013 that he had “probably” been shown a photograph of the slashed wrists of a child abuse victim, after he previously said he had never seen it.

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OSTERREICH
Kurier

[A priest in Upper Austria has been suspended and faced allegations that he abused minors.]

Die zweiwöchige Abwesenheit eines Paters im Stift Lambach, OÖ, ließ die Gerüchteküche brodeln. Nun teilte die Stiftsleitung über ihre Homepage mit: Pater Pius H. war bis 27. Mai in Untersuchungshaft.

Der Pater soll am 11. Mai in Linz einen minderjährigen Buben für sexuelle Dienste bezahlt haben. H. soll dabei “sehr stark alkoholisiert gewesen sein” und bedauere den Vorfall sehr, sagt Abt Maximilian und kündigt “drastische Konsequenzen” an: “Wir arbeiten offen und eng mit den ermittelnden Behörden zusammen. Nach Abschluss des gerichtlichen Verfahrens werden kirchenrechtliche Schritte gesetzt.” Denkbar seien der Ausschluss aus dem Stift bzw. ein Berufsverbot. “Darüber wird in Rom entschieden.”

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UNITED STATES
Inquiistr

As you likely know, the Duggar family has agreed to talk to Megyn Kelly of Fox News for an hour-long special, to talk about the family’s decisions in dealing with Josh Duggar’s alleged molestation of five younger girls (at least one as young as five) when he was 14-15 years old.

What may not be clear is that the family is scrambling to restore their reputation as moral leaders — and it isn’t working. They may hope for a spinoff series, or even the restoration of 19 Kids And Counting to be the result of this interview, but behind the scenes, it appears that they’re seeking help to fix the damage done — not to the victims, but to their political and television careers.

The Duggar family is reported to have contacted at least one expert on PR and reputation repair, a Christian reputation manager and publicist, who says he’s turned them down. His name is Hunter Frederick, and judging from his statement, it appears he’s managing his own reputation — by making sure he isn’t associated with the Duggar family.

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ALABAMA
AL.com

By Brendan Kirby | bkirby@al.com
on May 22, 2015

New allegations against teachers and administrators at St. Pius X School in Mobile paint a picture of a school out of control – a drunken teacher, attempts to cover up a gun brought to school by a student and unpunished assaults.

Those details are in an updated, 41-page lawsuit filed this week by lawyers for a group of former students at the Catholic school. The updated suit also accuses school officials of destroying disciplinary records in an effort to evade lawyers for the plaintiffs.

Originally filed as separate complaints by four different plaintiffs, the new suit combines those cases and adds 11 more students as plaintiffs. Most of them no longer are enrolled there.

Attorneys allege that reckless and negligent conduct by school officials began in 2007 and continues to the present day.

“They’ve had a lot of problems,” said David Kennedy, one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys. “The entire environment was just out of control and mismanaged … with no oversight from the Archdiocese (of Mobile).”

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ALABAMA
AL.com

By Carol McPhail | cmcphail@al.com
on May 31, 2015

Hundreds of parishioners processed around the property of St. Pius X Catholic Church on Sunday and prayed for their parish and school in the midst of accusations over bullying, school mismanagement and allegations involving the priest.

“We’re Catholic. We’re a family. We’re unified,” said John Bruemmer following mass. “We’re going through some dark times, and we’ll come out of it.”

An estimated 500 people, more than twice the usual number at St. Pius X, attended the 10:30 a.m. mass at the Midtown parish. Parishioners said they organized the event to fight back against what they said are unfounded accusations playing out in court and in the media.

“We want everyone to know we’re not going to stand for this anymore,” said Summer Jacobs, a St. Pius parishioner with two children enrolled in the PK4-8th-grade school.

Earlier in May, lawyers for a group of former St. Pius students combined four separate complaints into a 41-page lawsuit that alleges, among other things, that a student brought a gun to school, a teacher was intoxicated on the job, and that school officials failed to stop bullying and covered it up. The lawsuit also contends that St. Pius Pastor Johnny Savoie refused to disclose information related to an accusation that he had a sexual relationship with a minor while serving in Baldwin County almost a decade ago.

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher

Australia’s famous Cardinal George Pell has acknowledged that his early career was helped by a generous mentor — the late Bishop James Patrick O’Collins. Research by Broken Rites has shown that Bishop O’Collins also helped certain other priests — for example, the child-abuse criminal Father Gerald Ridsdale. Pell and Ridsdale eventually became two of the most widely publicised Catholics in Australia. Appropriately, a photograph of Ridsdale and Pell appears in the right-hand column on every page of the Broken Rites website.

When young George Pell and Gerald Ridsdale were growing up in the city of Ballarat, Bishop James O’Collins was in charge of the Catholic Church’s Ballarat diocese which extends throughout the western half of the state of Victoria. Pell and Ridsdale were recruited (separately) into the priesthood during Bishop O’Collins’s reign.

The rise of George Pell
George Pell was born in the city of Ballarat in the state of Victoria in 1941 (seven years younger than Gerald Ridsdale). In that same year, James O’Collins became the new bishop of the Ballarat Catholic diocese.

Although he never became an archbishop, O’Collins was certainly one of Australia’s most influential Catholic leaders.

O’Collins was a strong supporter of the conservative Catholic layman B.A. Santamaria, who operated a political organisation in Australia called “The Movement”. O’Collins was a member of a committee of three bishops who were appointed by the national organisation of bishops to liaise with “Bob” Santamaria on behalf of the church hierarchy.

George Pell did his secondary education at St Patrick’s Christian Brothers College in Ballarat, finishing in the late 1950s. He was then sponsored by Bishop O’Collins’s diocese to enter the Corpus Christi seminary in Melbourne to train as a priest to serve in the Ballarat diocese.

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UNITED STATES
Failed Messiah

Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com

The Chief Rabbi of the IDF, Rabbi Rafi Peretz, allegedly had a prominent guest over the Shavuot holiday – convicted child molester Rabbi Mordechai “Motti” Elon.

Elon, the former rosh yeshiva (dean) of the flagship Zionist Orthodox yeshiva, Yeshivat HaKotel in the Old City of Jerusalem, was treated as a guest of honor by Peretz, who is a state employee, even though Elon was convicted in August 2013 of molesting a minor teen boy, and even though Elon has been completely unrepentant.

Before that trial and Elon’s conviction, the Takana Forum, Zionist Orthodoxy’s and Modern Orthodoxy’s internal body that deals with clergy abuser and related problems, heard enough credible damning evidence to force Elon to resign from his Yeshivat HaKotel post, leave Jerusalem and promise to stop teaching public classes.

But within weeks of leaving Yeshivat HaKotel and the city in 2006, Elon – the scion of one of the most prominent Zionist Orthodox family in the country (his brother was a leading politician, his father was a Supreme Court judge and a published scholar of Jewish law, another brother is a district court judge and yet another is a biblical scholar) – resumed teaching. Not long after that, he began planning to return to Jerusalem in another public teaching role.

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AUSTRALIA
The Courier

By ST PATRICK’S COLLEGE STUDENT LEADERS May 29, 2015

To all members of the broader St Patrick’s College and Ballarat communities, and especially to the many victims and survivors of child sexual abuse.

As a student body we are well aware of the events currently unfolding in the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse being heard in Ballarat.

The details revealed in the hearing are simply unfathomable to the students of today. We are hearing of heinous and disgusting crimes to which nobody should ever have been subjected.

We offer our deepest sympathies for the truly reprehensible actions that have faced past students at the hands of those who had been trusted. It is truly impossible for us to fully comprehend the pain and grief that has fallen upon these individuals, and their siblings, peers, families and the broader community.

These crimes are something that should never be denied or excused.

Many boys have tied a ribbon onto the gates of this College to offer support, prayers and thoughts for the victims. It is a small gesture which says much. It says the current student community at St Patrick’s College is offering our deepest sympathies and assuring the broader community that the College, as it stands now, is an institution that is acknowledging and apologising for its past, but also hoping to assist in the healing process and then building from that.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

Pope Francis, clearly a well disguised absolute autocrat and temporary monarch, has predictably avoided commenting on his unprecedented defeat, over his self serving marriage policy, that Irish Catholic voters overwhelming handed him recently. Nor has the pope commented on the pointed remarks of his own papal commissioner for child protection, Peter Saunders, who says Cardinal George Pell is a “dangerous individual” and “almost sociopathic“. Learn here more about the investigation that Pell fears, and why he fears it, at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses into Child Sexual Abuse.

.It is also clear by now, to me at least, that the masterful media manipulating pope will reform the Vatican’s top down autocratic structure and harmful sexual policies ONLY IF COMPELLED by outside governments to do so. The Irish voters by a substantial majority have shown all democratically elected leaders in Ireland for sure, but also in the USA, Germany, Italy, the UK, Australia, the Philippines, Austria, Switzerland, the Dominican Republic, Poland, and many other nations, that these leaders must rein in the unaccountable Vatican and curb its harmful and self interested policies that it seeks to impose on all citizens, not just Catholics. The Vatican must be shown that the Middle Ages are over!

The honest Irish have shown that the media friendly pope may be a popular image and refreshing change for many, but his views on sexual morality carry little weight in the voting booth, even in the modern papacy’s most Catholic country, Ireland. Voters worldwide now can be expected to follow the bold lead of a large majority of Irish voters, whose monumental action and effective example would have made my Donegal born and bred Irish Catholic parents cheer!

Peter Saunders, a parent and a survivor of childhood sexual abuse by two priests, spoke about the pope’s shameful top financial aide, Cardinal Pell, in a remarkable interview here on Australia’s 60 Minutes. Again predictably, Pell declined to be interviewed. Instead, he issued a typical threatening “legalese” statement, noting “… While [Commission] members [like Saunders] are of course entitled to their views and opinions, the recently approved Statutes of the [ pope’s priest child abuse] Commission make it clear that the Commission’s role does not include commenting on individual cases, nor does the Commission have the capacity to investigate individual cases.”

Nice try, George Pell, but the UK’s Saunders retained his non-clerical free speech rights and Irish voters retained their free voting rights. Saunders is not subject to the Vatican’s shameful code of “Omerta”, the protective secrecy that puts the protection of clerics ahead of protecting defenseless children. Bishop Scicluna found Omerta to be the pervasive and dominant Vatican code of silence.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

A top advisor to the Pope on child protection has slammed Cardinal George Pell, saying Australia’s most senior Catholic should step down from his position at the Vatican.

Peter Saunders, who was hand-picked by Pope Francis six months ago to work as the Catholic Church’s commissioner for the protection of children, said Cardinal Pell’s position was “untenable”.

Speaking to 60 Minutes reporter Tara Brown, Mr Saunders said the cardinal’s repeated denials concerning his knowledge over the occurrence of child abuse perpetrated by Catholic priests in Victoria were “cold” and “callous”.

“I personally think that his position is untenable. Because he has now a catalogue of denials – he has a catalogue of denigrating people, of acting with callousness, cold-heartedness.

“[It’s] almost sociopathic, I would go as far to say, this lack of care,” Mr Saunders said.

Cardinal Pell, who is the Head of Finances at the Vatican, has been under fire since fresh allegations emerged last week at the royal commission into child abuse in Ballarat, that he deliberately turned a blind eye to child molestation.

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CANADA
Our Windosr

OurWindsor.Ca
By Joanna Smith

OTTAWA — The red-brick façade and towering spire of the building remain, but the feelings they evoke in Shirley Horn has changed over the nearly seven decades she has been connected to the place.

Horn, a great-grandmother from Missanabie Cree First Nation, was 7 years old when she first entered the building as a student at the Shingwauk Residential School in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.

Now, Shingwauk Hall is one of the oldest buildings on the campus of Algoma University and Horn, who had already gone back to earn a fine arts degree there in 2005, has been named its first chancellor.

“I’m 74 years old now and I’m looking at it through a different lens than when I first walked up those steps at the age of 7, that same building, and what I’m asking myself at this time of my life is: what is my responsibility in this? How am I going to make the change?” says Horn, who will be sworn in as the titular head of the post-secondary institution at a convocation ceremony June 13.

Prior to that, Horn will attend the closing events as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission prepares to release its findings Tuesday in Ottawa.

Horn was sent to St. Johns Indian Residential School, near her home in Chapleau, Ont., when she was 5 years old and then, two years later, she was transferred to Shingwauk, where she stayed for six years.

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CANADA
Our Windsor

OurWindsor.Ca
By Joanna Smith

As Justice Murray Sinclair prepares to wrap up his work as chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, he spoke to the Star about his what it was like to bear witness to the legacy of the residential school system in such painful detail and his vision for relations between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in Canada.

What we said to people was, “We don’t need you to feel that you are connected to this history. We need you to feel that you are part of the future and that you’re part of the solution, and therefore we have to talk about what your role is going to be going forward . . .” We ran into a lot of the people at the beginning, aboriginal and non-aboriginal, who said reconciliation is never going to happen. My (response was) you don’t have to believe that it is going to happen. You have to believe that it should happen.

What does reconciliation look like to you?

Reconciliation is always about relationships. It’s about bringing balance to the relations between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people. At an individual level, people often ask, “What can I do?” My answer to that is always, “Look at how you believe and how you behave and how you think and change that.”

What can efforts to promote awareness of Canada’s history with residential schools learn from Holocaust education?

You have to look at the history of how the Holocaust was treated publicly after the Second World War. It could have disappeared from the memory of everybody if world leaders hadn’t done certain things as a result of that phenomenon . . . There are laws in place that say you actually can’t deny the Holocaust. If there were laws in place that said you cannot deny the fact of residential schools and the abuse that occurred, that would certainly move this conversation into a better framework.

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CANADA
Lillooet News

CHINTA PUXLEY / THE CANADIAN PRESS
MAY 31, 2015

The commission that has spent five years examining one of the darkest chapters in Canada’s history is winding up its work with a key question left unanswered — exactly how many aboriginal children died in residential schools?

Justice Murray Sinclair, who heads the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, says the federal government stopped recording the deaths around 1920 after the chief medical officer at Indian Affairs suggested children were dying at an alarming rate.

“He was fired,” Sinclair says. “The government stopped recording deaths of children in residential schools, we think, probably because the rates were so high.”

Sinclair has guessed up to 6,000 children may have died at the schools but it’s impossible to say with certainty.

“We think this is a situation that needs further study,” he said.

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CANADA
Metro

The Canadian Press

A look a the life and career of Justice Murray Sinclair, head of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission:

Born — 1951, near Selkirk, Man. Both his parents and grandparents were sent to residential schools.

Education — Attended the University of Winnipeg and University of Manitoba, graduating from the faculty of law at the University of Manitoba in 1979. Honorary degrees from the University of Manitoba and the University of Ottawa.

Career — Called to the Manitoba bar in 1980 and specialized in aboriginal legal issues. Appointed associate chief judge of the provincial court of Manitoba in 1988. Co-commissioner of Manitoba’s Aboriginal Justice Inquiry the same year. Presided over a 2000 inquest into the deaths of 12 children in the pediatric cardiac surgery program at Winnipeg’s Health Sciences Centre. Adjunct professor at the University of Manitoba.

Family — He and wife, Katherine Morrisseau-Sinclair, have four children: Manon Beaudrie, James, Déne and Gazheek. One granddaughter, Sarah Fontaine-Sinclair.

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CANADA
CTV

Michelle Zilio, CTVNews.ca
@michellezilio

Published Sunday, May 31, 2015

The chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) says next week’s report will show that the residential school system had an impact on nearly all of the social markers used to measure the state of affairs for aboriginal people in Canada.

Speaking with CTV’s Question Period, Justice Murray Sinclair, who lead the TRC, offered some details about Tuesday’s highly-anticipated report into residential schools.

“In our report, which we are releasing, we talk about each of the social indicators that society uses to mark the state of affairs of the indigenous peoples of this country,” said Sinclair.

“And we point out that it’s very rare to find to any social marker in this country that doesn’t have some connection, directly or indirectly, to the residential school experience.”

The residential school system was established in the 19th century as a way to assimilate Canada’s aboriginal children; the last one closed in 1996.

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