ABUSE TRACKER

AUSTRALIA
3AW

Leading Melbourne lawyer says Cardinal George Pell risks reputation by avoiding royal commission into child abuse

Leading Melbourne lawyer David Galbally says Cardinal George Pell risks being accused of “trying to hide” if he doesn’t respond to allegations at the royal commission into child abuse.

Pressure is mounting on Cardinal Pell to front the commission and answer claims he tried to bribe the nephew of a paedophile priest to stay quiet about the abuse.

Mr Galbally told Tom Elliott on 3AW Drive the royal commission did not have the power to compel Cardinal Pell into giving evidence.

But the leading QC said it was in his best interests.

“I would think that he would have to know that if he was seen to shirk the issue, that would not count in his favour,” Mr Galbally said.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – 7.30

Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Broadcast: 21/05/2015
Reporter: David Mark

Cardinal George Pell is under growing pressure to appear before the Royal Commission into child sexual abuse after allegations he tried to bribe a victim to stay quiet, claims that he denies.

Transcript

LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: The allegations against Australia’s most senior clergy at the Vatican, Cardinal George Pell, continue to mount at the Royal commission into child sexual abuse.

David Ridsdale, the nephew and victim of notorious paedophile Gerald Ridsdale, has claimed Cardinal Pell tried to bribe him to stay quiet, something Cardinal Pell denies, saying the two men had a misunderstanding.

Cardinal Pell’s under growing pressure to appear before the commission, as David Mark reports.

DAVID MARK, REPORTER: For David Ridsdale, even returning to Ballarat’s St Alipius is painful.

DAVID RIDSDALE: From the age of 11 and 12, after Gerald did that, I used to have lie and pretend I was going there. I used to stand at the back till some – one of the gossips saw me and then I’d climb that tower up there. And every Sunday, I sat up there for probably four years.

DAVID MARK: For those four years, between the ages of 11 and 15, he was repeatedly sexually assaulted by his uncle, the notorious paedophile and parish priest, Gerald Risdale.

At the age of 25, David Ridsdale finally got up the courage to report his abuse to the most powerful man he knew in the Church, the former Catholic Archbishop of Sydney and Melbourne, George Pell.

DAVID RIDSDALE: At 9 am on 2nd February, 1993, I rang George from my home in Bentleigh. My partner at the time was sitting in the room when I made the call.

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UNITED STATES
Las Vegas Review-Journal

By BARBARA GOLDBERG
REUTERS

NEW YORK — A “Saturday Night Live” skit about a male student having sex with his female high school teacher painted the relationship as every teen boy’s dream, but drew a firestorm of criticism on social media.

The reaction to the comedy sketch reflected a growing view among law enforcement and victims’ advocacy groups that it is no laughing matter when a woman educator preys on her male students.

In U.S. schools last year, almost 800 school employees were prosecuted for sexual assault, nearly a third of them women. The proportion of women facing charges seems to be higher than in years past, when female teachers often got a pass, said Terry Abbott, a former chief of staff at the U.S. Department of Education, who tracked the cases.

This year’s numbers are already slightly ahead of last year with 26 cases of female school employees accused of inappropriate relationships with male students in January compared to 19 cases the previous January.

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MICHIGAN
International Business Times

By Philip Ross

A former Catholic high school Spanish teacher in southeastern Michigan has pleaded guilty to two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct for having sex with a 15-year-old student last year. Kathryn Ronk, 30, originally faced first-degree charges and already was serving time in prison when she appeared before a court Wednesday to plead to the lesser charges, according to the Associated Press. She had originally rejected the plea agreement in March.

Ronk had been sentenced to six to 15 years in prison in March for her crimes, having pleaded guilty to third-degree criminal sexual conduct charges, but will face new sentencing on July 1. “You’re really very smart, an intelligent woman,” who had to have known what she was doing was wrong, Judge Nanci Grant told Ronk during her sentencing two months ago, according to The Detroit News.

Grant went on to address what she said was the “double standard” in sexual misconduct cases. “If this was a male teacher who had been involved with a 15-year-old female, there would be people here hanging from the ceiling trying to get every drop of blood,” said Grant, according to the Detroit News. “But because it is a woman, there seems to be a winking about what happened.”

Ronk was originally charged with five counts of criminal sexual conduct, including rape. Law enforcement said Ronk had engaged in sexual misconduct with a male student in classrooms at Bishop Foley High School in Madison Heights, Michigan.

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MICHIGAN
Detroit Free Press

Christina Hall, Detroit Free Press

A former Spanish teacher at Bishop Foley Catholic High School in Madison Heights pleaded guilty today to lesser charges in Macomb County, where she is accused of having a sexual relationship with a male student.

Kathryn Ronk, 30, of Birmingham is to be sentenced July 1 in Macomb County Circuit Court on two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct.

The guilty pleas came on the day her case was set for trial. She initially rejected the plea agreement in March. After today’s hearing, her attorney, James Thomas, said “we have no comment.”

Ronk appeared in court in a blue and pink prison jumpsuit. She answered yes or no to questions posed by Judge Mary Chrzanowski. She looked into the audience when the lawyers talked with the judge.

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MICHIGAN
Wall Street OTC

MAY 21, 2015 BY KEN BECK

An ex-Spanish teacher at the Michigan Catholic high school, already imprisoned on third-degree sexual conduct charges, has plead guilty on Wednesday to lesser charges.

The former teacher is accused of having had sexual relations with a male student.

Kathryn Ronk initially refused the plea, however, on Wednesday, she pleaded guilty to two separate counts of criminal sexual conduct.

The woman had already been facing first-degree counts as well as other charges involving a 15-year-old student.

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NEW MEXICO
Gallup Independent

Published in the Gallup Independent, Gallup, N.M., May 18, 2015

Church to stay open, new priest assigned

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Independent correspondent
religion@gallupindependent.com

GALLUP – Although Bishop James S. Wall hasn’t agreed to meet with parishioners from Gallup’s St. John Vianney Parish, he has apparently heard their voices loud and clear.

Wall and his chancery officials spent the last several days backpedaling on several unpopular diocesan decisions concerning St. John Vianney that left parishioners upset, frustrated, banding together and requesting to meet with the bishop. As of Sunday, several of those controversial decisions had been reversed.

The controversy erupted over Mother’s Day weekend when parishioners were stunned to learn their popular priest, the Rev. James E. Walker, was being abruptly transferred to Bloomfield and their parish was being reduced to a chapel. As a mere chapel, they were informed, they would have no resident priest, only two weekend Masses, no religious education program for children, and the loss of sacraments such as baptism, reconciliation, confirmation and marriage.

Parishioners, many of whom gathered for an impromptu parish meeting Monday, feared this was the diocese’s first step toward closing down their parish.

Chancery officials said the abrupt decision was made because Walker was needed to replace the Rev. Bob Mathieu, who resigned because of “some incidences of imprudence in the use of social media — Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.”

St. John Vianney parishioners were dismayed by Walker’s transfer and upset that their thriving church was being stripped down to a chapel.

In an interview Wednesday, parish member Lawrence Andrade, a local physician, credited Walker’s pastoral leadership for the church’s growth and cited the church’s full attendance, increased collections, growing religious education programs and a much needed expansion of the church parking lot as evidence of the parish’s vitality.

Andrade bluntly said he believed chancery officials made the decision out of “jealousy and anger” because St. John Vianney’s attendance and collections were increasing while the bishop’s Sacred Heart Cathedral, with its “conservative, overly reverent pre-Vatican II” style services, was experiencing dwindling attendance and collections.

During Saturday and Sunday Masses, St. John Vianney parishioners learned Wall was backing down on some of the decisions affecting their church. Although Walker was still being transferred, the church will continue as an active parish, not a chapel.

In a letter inserted into the church bulletin, the Rev. Kevin H. Finnegan, the current chancellor and vicar general, announced he has been assigned as pastor of the church.

“Please be assured and take comfort that the viability of St. John Vianney Parish will continue under my pastoral care,” Finnegan wrote.

Most of the weekly Masses will now continue to be offered, as will the religious education program for children. Because of Finnegan’s physical disabilities, he will not move into the parish rectory at this time but will continue to live at the bishop’s House of Discernment.

Although Finnegan’s letter stated the parish’s third weekend Mass was to be cut, that decision had also been revoked by Sunday morning.

Walker, addressing parishioners at the 11:30 a.m. Mass, which was the Mass slated to be cut, said Finnegan had telephoned that morning and said the third weekend service would continue. Parishioners then burst into applause at the announcement.

Finnegan’s decision to eliminate youth altar servers at the parish did not elicit a similar positive response. Church leaders frequently cite youth altar server programs as a positive method of promoting religious vocations. Finnegan, however, is asking for adult volunteers to replace the parish’s youth servers.

The future of weddings and funeral services at St. John Vianney has yet to be determined.

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MISSOURI
isitenough15

[resignation letter]

LAW OFFICES OF
AL W. JOHNSON
112 SOUTH HANLEY
SUITE 200
CLAYTON, MISSOURI 63105
AL W. JOHNSON E-MAIL: AJOHNSON@AWJ-LAW.COM
LICEN SED IN MISSOURI AND ILLINO IS PHONE: (314) 726-6489 WEBSITE: WWW.AWJ-LAW.COM
FACSIMILE: (314) 726-2821

May 20, 2015

It is only under very unusual circumstances that we release a press statement on behalf of one of our clients. However, the remarkable events of the past several months surrounding Doug Lay and his interactions with his former church, First Christian Church of Florissant (“FCCF”), and its pastor, Steve Wingfield, present such a situation. The continuing pattern of misinformation and deception that has characterized the tragic situation with the former FCCF youth leader, Brandon Milburn, requires us to respond directly and firmly. This pattern of misinformation has included a frivolous lawsuit filed on April 16, 2015 by Steve Wingfield and FCCF against Mr. Lay and three other individuals, Kari and Titus Benton and Dawn Varvil, filed in St. Louis County Circuit Court and styled Steve Wingfield and the First Christian Church of Florissant v. Douglas Lay, Titus Benton, Kari Benton, Dawn Varvil and Jane Doe (aka “Annie Shankin” and “Reform FCCF”), Cause Number 15SL-CC0132.

The most recent series of misrepresentations has surrounded the so-called “dismissal” of the lawsuit. Mr. Wingfield, his attorney, and his elders at FCCF are telling their congregation and others that they dismissed this lawsuit as a good-faith gesture because they have offered an “independent Christian mediation process” to resolve their differences with Mr. Lay and the 2 other defendants. These representations are untrue on multiple counts. In actuality, the lawsuit was dismissed 48 hours before a court hearing was scheduled on Mr. Lay’s motion to dismiss the case in St. Louis County Circuit Court. We believe there was a 90% likelihood that the motion would be granted as the petition that was filed in this case did not contain a single valid claim against any of the defendants. The plaintiffs’ so-called “dismissal” of the lawsuit, which is attached, is really not a finalized dismissal. Rather, Mr. Wingfield and his attorney have dismissed the case without prejudice, which means they can refile it again anytime within the statute of limitations. This maneuver allowed them to avoid the near certainty that the trial judge would dismiss their case with prejudice, which would have eliminated their ability to ever refile this case again.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – The World Today

ELEANOR HALL: But we begin today at the Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse in Ballarat.

The head of the commission has put the Catholic Church on notice that the allegations made against Cardinal George Pell will be investigated.

A witness yesterday gave evidence that Cardinal Pell had tried to bribe one victim in the 1990s to keep quiet about his abuse.

Another victim alleged that he told George Pell in the 1970s of the abuse at St Patricks College in Ballarat.

Overnight, Cardinal Pell denied those claims.

Samantha Donovan is at the hearings in Ballarat and joins us now with the latest.

Samantha, what exactly did the royal commission chairman say about these allegations made against Cardinal Pell?

SAMANTHA DONOVAN: Well, the Catholic Church, Eleanor, at these Ballarat hearings has instructed its lawyers not to challenge the survivor witnesses about their accounts of abuse at the hands of priests and nuns at institutions in Ballarat and when those serious allegations were made against Cardinal Pell yesterday it was clear the royal commission chairman, Justice Peter McClellan was surprised that the church’s lawyers weren’t going to cross-exam those two witnesses on their accounts and Justice McClellan has raised those concerns again this morning and he emphasised that the royal commission is conducting an investigation and will be making findings.

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AUSTRALIA
The JC

By Danny Ben-Moshe, May 21, 2015

When Manny Waks went public in 2011 with the revelation that he was a victim of child sex abuse in Melbourne’s Chabad Yeshiva, he could not have foreseen the consequences: three court cases and convictions of paedophiles, including one extradition; a Royal Commission hearing into actions of the Yeshiva; the resignation of senior rabbis; and parents in the Chabad community seeking a new governance structure for their school.

Four years on, the tragic Australian experience remains a constantly unfolding story that continues to make the headlines. Rabbis and other Yeshiva stalwarts still cling to their posts, victims of abuse and their families continue to be shunned, and the Yeshiva now faces civil class action and, potentially, criminal prosecution.

As Britain confronts its own Orthodox child sex abuse case, what are the lessons from Australia?

Firstly, deal with the issue from the outset. Waks went to the Yeshiva leadership on several occasions in private, but they declined to deal with this matter. That was the first of their many mistakes – the Yeshiva leadership dug itself into a deep hole as it prioritised the institution over the individual.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The JC

By Jonathan Kalmus, May 21, 2015

The conviction of paedophile Todros Grynhaus will encourage more victims to report abuse to police, according to a senior figure in the strictly Orthodox community.

Grynhaus is facing a “substantial” jail sentence after being found guilty of seven charges of sex abuse against two teenage girls this week.

The 50-year-old teacher-turned-businessman is a well-known figure in Salford’s Charedi community.
A communal leader, who wished to remain anonymous, said the case was a game-changer.

The guilty verdict would now “encourage victims that they will be believed”, he said. The case had shown for the first time that “some senior rabbis are prepared publicy to support victims of abuse through a trial”.

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CALIFORNIA
CBS San Francisco

San Francisco Catholic School Teachers Protest Revised Morality Clauses Offered By Archbishop

SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) — After months of heated debate, San Francisco Catholic school teachers said they are no closer to a contract deal with the archdiocese.

Teachers from four high schools operated by the Archdiocese of San Francisco rallied Wednesday afternoon in front of the Chancery office, calling for a rejection of Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone’s latest revision of the teacher handbook.

The proposed handbook requires strict adherence to the church’s teachings on things such as homosexuality and contraception, both in and out of the classroom.

Protestors said the latest draft of the handbook is a little softer in tone, but the substance is the essentially the same.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By David Mark

A victim of sexual abuse by his uncle, a Catholic priest in Ballarat in the 1970s, says Cardinal George Pell has complicated his case.

David Ridsdale yesterday gave evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutionalised Sexual Abuse that George Pell had tried to buy his silence when he told the cardinal he had been abused by his uncle, notorious paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale.

“If he’d just said he didn’t remember it might have been one thing, but he chose to add layers of nonsense,” David Ridsdale told the Royal Commission yesterday.

“I told George that I had been abused by Gerald.

“George then began to talk about my growing family and my need to take care of their needs. He mentioned how I would soon have to buy a car or house for my family.

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AUSTRALIEN
Spiegel

George Pell soll einem Missbrauchsopfer Anfang der Neunzigerjahre Schweigegeld geboten haben. Das hat ein Betroffener unter Eid ausgesagt. Der australische Kardinal, inzwischen Leiter der Finanzbehörde im Vatikan, bestreitet das.

Von den Vorwürfen gegen sich will George Pell nichts wissen: Er habe nichts falsch gemacht, er habe keinen Missbrauchsfall in der katholischen Kirche vertuschen wollen, teilte der australische Kardinal mit. Die Anschuldigungen gegen den Leiter der Finanzbehörde im Vatikan kommen von einem Betroffenen.

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USA
kath.ch

Chicago/Seattle, 19.5.15 (kath.ch) Das katholische Erzbistum Chicago zahlt einem Missbrauchsopfer 1,25 Millionen US-Dollar (1,16 Millionen Franken) als Entschädigung. Man wolle damit einen Prozess abwenden, erklärte das Erzbistum laut US-Medienberichten am Montag (Ortszeit). Das Opfer, ein Mann Ende 20, war seinen Angaben zufolge als Grundschüler über einen längeren Zeitraum von dem Priester Daniel McCormick sexuell missbraucht worden. Der Geistliche ist bereits in fünf anderen Fällen wegen Missbrauchs verurteilt.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

If he has nothing to hide, Cardinal George Pell should come home and face the music, according to a man who was abused at the hands of Christian Brothers during the 1940s.

A man abused by Christian Brothers says Cardinal George Pell should come back to Aust and testify at the royal commission.

Brutally raped, beaten and emotionally abused by 10 Brothers at a Bindoon boys’ home for five years, John Hennessy said Cardinal Pell must come home to face the child abuse royal commission.

Claims that Cardinal Pell had been involved in moving a known pedophile, ignoring a victim’s complaint and bribery were made at the Ballarat hearings this week.

‘He needs to come home, come clean and go to the royal commission,’ Mr Hennessy told AAP on Thursday.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Oliver Milman in Melbourne and Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Rome
Wednesday 20 May 2015

A senior Vatican official, who is also Australia’s highest ranking cleric, has been accused of attempting to bribe a victim of child sex abuse to keep quiet about the molestation he suffered from a paedophile Catholic priest.

The victim, David Ridsdale, told an Australian royal commission into child sexual abuse that he called Cardinal George Pell in 1993 to report being abused by his uncle Gerald Ridsdale, a former priest who is in prison after committing more than 130 offences against children as young as four between the 1960s and 1980s.

David Ridsdale said Pell had a “terse” response to being told of the abuse, before offering him money to buy his silence.

“George then began to talk about my growing family and my need to take care of their needs,” Ridsdale told the royal commission hearing. “He mentioned how I would soon have to buy a car or house for my family.

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AUSTRALIA
Irish Independent

Jonathan Pearlman in Sydney

George Pell, an Australian Cardinal who is one of the most senior figures in the Vatican, has been accused of ignoring and covering up child sex abuse claims during his service in Australia, including allegedly trying to bribe a victim of a paedophile priest to remain silent.

In dramatic testimony at Australia’s royal commission into child sex abuse, David Ridsdale said he was abused by his uncle, Gerard Ridsdale – a notorious paedophile and defrocked priest – and phoned Cardinal Pell, who tried to silence him.

Mr Ridsdale said he spoke to Cardinal Pell in 1993 but the priest did not appear shocked and instead attempted to bribe him. Cardinal Pell has previously denied the claim.

“George then began to talk about my growing family and my need to take care of their needs. He mentioned how I would soon have to buy a car or house for my family,” Mr Ridsdale said.

Mr Ridsdale said he recalled “with clarity” the last three lines of the conversation:

“Me: ‘Excuse me, George, what the **** are you talking about?’

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

By Stephen Montemayor Star Tribune MAY 21, 2015

Francis Hoefgen was a priest more than 20 years ago at St. Boniface Church in Hastings.

Now the 64-year-old is on trial in Dakota County, accused of sexually abusing an altar boy at the parish in the late 1980s and early ’90s.

Hoefgen, who has left the priesthood and lives in Columbia Heights, faces two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct. While dozens of priests have been accused of sexual misconduct, Hoefgen is one of the few to face criminal charges for alleged offenses that date back decades.

In opening statements, attorneys outlined a case that hinges on the passage of time and the recollection of the former altar boy, who is now 36. St. Boniface merged with the Guardian Angels parish in 1987 to become St. Elizabeth Ann Seton.

“The church is gone, but his memories of abuse are still here. That testimony is what this case is about,” said Assistant Dakota County Attorney G. Paul Beaumaster.

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

CARDINAL George Pell will co-operate with any requests made by the Victorian royal commission into child sex abuse, according to a close friend.

AMID calls for Cardinal Pell to front the hearings currently being held in Ballarat, Greg Craven, from the Truth, Justice and Healing Council, says he expects his friend to be compliant.

There have been claims Cardinal Pell had been involved in moving a known pedophile, ignoring a victim’s complaint and bribery.

“He has a long record of co-operation and compliance with investigations similar to this,” Mr Craven told 3AW radio on Thursday.

“He’ll cooperate with the royal commission.”

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

FAIRFAX newspaper The Age is scrambling to address how an offensive message directed at Cardinal George Pell was posted from the Melbourne newspaper’s Facebook account.

Around 8am today The Age Facebook page published a post linking to an article about the controversial Catholic figure’s involvement with the Royal Commission into child sexual abuse.

Accompanying a picture of Pell and a link to a story detailing allegations that he bribed a sex abuse victim were the accompanying words “Die Pell”.

The post has since been removed, but was visible on The Age’s Facebook page for around an hour.
Editor-in-Chief Andrew Holden is yet to respond to questions about the post, but told 3AW’s Neil Mitchell he believed it was the work of “a hacker”.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

Cardinal George Pell’s denials of wrongdoing at the child abuse royal commission are a defence by media release – not testimony – a survivors group says.

Nicky Davis, leader of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, says Cardinal Pell must appear before the commission to answer claims against him.

Survivors told the commission’s Ballarat hearings Cardinal Pell ignored their reports about clergy sex abuse.

‘It is vastly inappropriate to respond to sworn evidence by courageous survivors with a media statement that callously dismisses their experience,’ Ms Davis said on Thursday.

‘If Cardinal Pell is at all genuine in his claims to recognise the seriousness of the crime of sexual violation of defenceless children, he would voluntarily return to Australia to give evidence under oath to the royal commission.’

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

AAP

The buck stops with Cardinal George Pell who must return from Rome to answer allegations against him, child sex abuse victims have told the royal commission.

They say it’s inconceivable he did not know about the clergy abusing children in Ballarat while he was a senior priest in the city in the 1970s.

But Cardinal Pell, now the Vatican’s finance chief, has again rejected claims he tried to bribe one victim to keep quiet, ignored complaints and was complicit in moving Australia’s worst pedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale to a different parish.

Victim Paul Tatchell said responsibility for the abuse had to be taken by someone in the Catholic Church in Australia, and called on Ballarat-born Cardinal Pell to return from the Vatican and answer to the royal commission.

“He may not have the intestinal fortitude or the ability to see beyond his own vanity but it’s his ambition that got him there and it will take his humility to get him out of there,” Mr Tatchell told the commission hearing in Ballarat on Thursday.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

Survivors of child sex abuse at the hands of the Catholic Church have labelled Cardinal George Pell a coward and called on him to face the Royal Commission.

Stephen Woods and Andrew Collins were among a group of victims to give more harrowing evidence to the commission today.

For the two men, a written statement of repeated denials from the Cardinal weren’t nearly enough.

“He should have been here and he should be held accountable,” Mr Woods told reporters outside court.

“It was a coward’s way out to make a statement in the media that can’t be cross examined,” Mr Collins said.

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MINNESOTA
St. Cloud Times

David Unze, dunze@stcloudtimes.com May 20, 2015

HASTINGS – A former altar boy at a Hastings church is expected to testify Thursday at the trial of a former St. John’s Abbey monk and priest who is accused of sexually abusing the boy more than 25 years ago.

Fran Hoefgen, 64, is charged with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct in Dakota County, where Hoefgen was assigned as a priest by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. The abuse is alleged to have occurred between March 1989 and April 1992, after the boy moved to Hastings when his parents split up, Assistant Dakota County Attorney Paul Beaumaster told jurors Wednesday during his opening statement.

Beaumaster called Hoefgen a “good parish priest” who helped the boy deal with his family issues and other problems. But Beaumaster said Hoefgen took advantage of that and abused the boy beginning when he was in the fourth grade.

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SCOTLAND
BBC News

Five men have appeared in court facing allegations of abusing pupils at a school that was run by the Christian Brothers in Fife between 1970 and 1983.

The men, aged between 61 and 77. are accused of physically and sexually abusing boys at the former St Ninian’s School in Falkland.

All five pleaded not guilty to the charges at the High Court in Glasgow.

The accused are John Farrell, 72, Paul Kelly, 62, Edward Egan, 77, Michael Murphy, 75, and William Don, 61.

The 23-page indictment lists 131 charges involving more than 40 alleged victims.
The Roman Catholic school was run by the Christian Brothers organisation until St Ninian’s closed in the 1980s.

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SCOTLAND
The Courier

By ALAN RICHARDSON, 20 May 2015

A group of men have appeared in court facing allegations of abusing pupils at a school that was run by the Christian Brothers in Fife between 1970 and 1983.

The five men, aged between 61 and 77. are accused of physically and sexually abusing boys at the former St Ninian’s School in Falkland.

All pleaded not guilty to the charges at the High Court in Glasgow.

The accused are John Farrell, 72, Paul Kelly, 62, Edward Egan, 77, Michael Murphy, 75, and William Don, 61.

The 23-page indictment lists 131 charges involving more than 40 alleged victims.

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Thursday 21 May 2015

FIVE men face allegations of abusing pupils at a school that was run by the Christian Brothers.

John Farrell, 72, Paul Kelly, 62, Edward Egan, 77, Michael Murphy, 75, and William Don, 61, made their first public appearance in the dock yesterday (thur) at the High Court in Glasgow.

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

AUSTRALIA’S worst pedophile priest Gerald Francis Ridsdale will give evidence to the child abuse royal commission next week.

A MAJOR focus of the commission’s Ballarat hearing is who was responsible for moving Ridsdale from parish to parish, allowing him to continue to offend, and why.

Ridsdale will give evidence via videolink from jail on Wednesday, May 27.

Ridsdale abused more than 50 children as he was moved between nine Victorian parishes over three decades. He also abused an altar boy in Sydney.

The commission is holding a three-week hearing in Ballarat looking at abuse by members of the Catholic Church in the Victorian regional city and the response of the church.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

AAP

A bishop told abuse victims they were trying to destroy the Catholic Church and in 40 years they would all be dead while the church would endure, the royal commission has heard.

Victim Andrew Collins told the commission Ballarat Bishop Paul Bird told him in 2013 that if the church had to pay an amount they were discussing to every survivor it would go bankrupt.

“Bishop Bird told us that we were intent on destroying his church,” Mr Collins told the commission’s Ballarat hearing.

“He said `Andrew, you need to understand something: the church has endured for thousands of years and in another 40 years or so you people will all be dead and this will be forgotten about and the church will endure for thousands of years more.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Australian Associated Press
Thursday 21 May 2015

A headmaster told an 11-year-old boy it was his fault he was being abused, and a priest told another he was a bad child and would go to hell, the royal commission into institutional responses to child sex abuse has heard.

In 2013, a Ballarat bishop is alleged to have told victims they were trying to destroy the Catholic church, but it would endure after they die.

Victim Andrew Collins told the abuse royal commission he was raped by his Seventh Day Adventist grade four teacher, who warned him that if he said anything the same thing would happen to his younger sister.

In 1980, when he was 11, a parish priest named only as Father X abused him during preparations for his confirmation.

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AUSTRALIA
3AW

[with audio]

Cardinal George Pell must fly to Australia to give evidence at the Royal Commission in to Child Sex Abuse, Neil Mitchell said.

“George Pell has to come back and answer questions,” he said.

“Not because he’s necessarily done anything wrong, but because the victims deserve answers and he may have some.

“It’s the right thing to do.”

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AUSTRALIA
3AW

The Age is investigating how an offensive comment about George Pell was published to its Facebook page.

Two separate sources have told Neil Mitchell a link to the newspaper’s coverage of the Royal Commission into Child Abuse was posted along with the words ‘Die Pell’.

The below screenshot was also sent to 3AW.

It’s not yet known how it was posted.

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AUSTRALIA
3AW

A long-term friend of Cardinal George Pell has defended him over claims he allegedly tried to bribe a victim of sexual abuse.

Lawyer and professor Greg Craven told Neil Mitchell Cardinal Pell has a long history of “co-operation and compliance”, as the royal commission into child sex abuse claims in the Catholic church enters its third day.

In a explosive day at the royal commission, victim David Ridsdale alleged Cardinal Pell tried to bribe him to keep quiet about the abuse by his uncle, convicted sex offender Gerald Ridsdale.

But Professor Craven, from the Catholic church’s Truth, Justice Healing Council said Cardinal Pell has already addressed and denied the allegations.

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MISSOURI
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

By Lilly Fowler

A vocal critic of a Florissant church over its handling of a sexual abuse scandal said the situation has compelled him to resign from his job at a local Christian college.

Doug Lay, a professor of English and literature at St. Louis Christian College, a small Bible college in Florissant, submitted his letter of resignation on Monday.

Lay had been a member of First Christian Church of Florissant, a large, evangelical house of worship that employed a youth minister now serving a 25-year prison sentence for sexual abuse.

Lay and other members of the congregation argue the church and its lead pastor, Steve Wingfield, failed to vigorously pursue allegations surrounding Brandon Milburn— the 28-year-old former youth minister now in prison. They also maintain the church has not done enough to reach out to Milburn’s victims.

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MISSOURI
Fox 4

MAY 20, 2015, BY KATIE BANKS

GRANDVIEW, Mo. — More potential victims have come forward one week after a former church deacon was charged with molesting two children, according to Grandview police.

Detectives interviewed more families Wednesday about similar interactions they claim their children had with 68-year-old John Stone, who helped lead children’s programs for decades at Grandview Baptist Church where he was a deacon.

Stone is now facing four first-degree counts of child molestation after prosecutors said he inappropriately touched and kissed two children of a close friend last year.

The victims’ mother talked for the first time exclusively with FOX 4 about the allegations and their impact on her family, in hopes her words give other victims the courage to come forward.

“You put so much trust in someone that you meet from church,” she said. “How could he do this – take advantage of two children?”

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TEXAS
Longview News-Journal

By Glenn Evans
May 21, 2015

A Kilgore pastor has pleaded no contest to a lesser count two years after he was arrested on a charge of aggravated sexual assault of a child.

The Rev. Glenn Barton entered an eight-year probation that, if he adheres to its conditions, will prevent the court from pronouncing a finding of guilt from his no-contest plea.

Barton, a minister at Calvary Way church, was charged in March 2013 with aggravated sex assault of a child. Kilgore police said then that Barton was suspected of sexually abusing a child between 2009 and 2013.

He pleaded no contest May 11 to indecency with a child, a lesser charge, before Fourth District Court Judge Clay Gossett in Henderson, Rusk County District Clerk records show.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

Abuse victims seeking compensation told Catholic Church would endure long after they died, royal commission hears

Jane Lee

Ballarat’s Bishop Paul Bird told survivors seeking compensation that the Catholic Church would endure long after victims died and were forgotten, the royal commission into child sexual abuse has heard.

Survivor Andrew Collins, 46, told the commission on Thursday that he met with Bishop Bird in May 2013 with fellow survivor Peter Blenkiron asking for financial compensation to help other survivors “even if it was just to help them survive the week”.

The pair co-founded the Ballarat Survivors support group, many of whom have not told others about their abuse. They have lobbied for years for a Ballarat-based redress scheme to help survivors who can no longer work afford things like counselling and basic household bills.

Mr Collins said they asked Bishop Bird to pay the $252 difference between the disability pension and the pension paid to returned servicemen.

“We knew that some of the guys were just in so much difficulty and struggling to pay for things like medication,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

AAP

Cardinal George Pell has again been put under the spotlight over clergy sexual abuse in Ballarat, this time during a royal commission public hearing.

ALLEGATIONS AGAINST CARDINAL GEORGE PELL PELL IN BALLARAT

Ballart-born Pell, now the Vatican’s finance chief, was a priest in the Ballarat East parish from 1973 to 1983 and Episcopal Vicar for Education in the Ballarat Diocese from 1973 to 1984.

He presided over St Alipius primary school where four Christian Brothers were pedophiles and lived in a presbytery with Father Gerald Francis Ridsdale who was abusing boys at the school.

ALLEGATION HE ATTEMPTED TO BRIBE A VICTIM

Ridsdale’s nephew, David Ridsdale, said he told Cardinal Pell in 1993 he was abused by his uncle.

Mr Ridsdale told the commission Cardinal Pell, a family friend, asked him: “I want to know what it will take to keep you quiet.”

PELL SAYS:

“I was and remain extremely sympathetic to David Ridsdale who because of his uncle suffered horrible abuse. I continue to regret the misunderstanding between us.

“At no time did I attempt to bribe David Ridsdale or his family or offer any financial inducements for him to be silent.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Katharine Murphy Deputy political editor
@murpharoo

Wednesday 20 May 2015

Tony Abbott has declined to say whether Cardinal George Pell should return to Australia from the Vatican to address claims made against him this week at the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse.

The prime minister said on Thursday morning that it was up to the royal commission and the cardinal to determine the best way to proceed, but his understanding was Pell had agreed to front the commission once again.

The royal commission, sitting in Ballarat, has heard allegations that Pell had been complicit in the moving of a known paedophile, ignored a victim’s complaint, and offered a bribe.

Pell has released a statement denying the allegations, “correcting the record” and expressing an intention to cooperate with the royal commission.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Cardinal George Pell is ‘weak and ineffectual’, a child sexual abuse victim testifying at the royal commission has told reporters. ‘He likes to believe he’s intelligent but the way he chose to deal with me shows he really wasn’t that smart,’ David Ridsdale said, after claiming Pell attempted to bribe him when he reported being abused by paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale, also his uncle.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

Sex abuse royal commission: Church lawyers urged to challenge victims’ claims against George Pell

May 21, 2015

Jane Lee
Legal Affairs Reporter for The Age

The chairman of the royal commission into child sexual abuse has urged church authorities to challenge claims that former Bishop George Pell attempted to bribe a victim of clerical abuse and ignored the pleas of another.

Commission chairman Peter McClellan is expected to make a determination on the veracity of the explosive allegations against Cardinal Pell, and implored church lawyers to test the evidence put to the commission.

Late on Wednesday night Cardinal Pell sent a statement from Rome to the royal commission, strenuously denying the allegations from survivors David Ridsdale and Timothy Green.

Chairman of the commission Justice McClellan stressed that he expected Cardinal Pell to defend himself against the claims if he was arguing the witnesses had deliberately given false evidence or made a mistake.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Pressure is growing on Cardinal George Pell to front the child abuse royal commission in the wake of allegations he tried to bribe the nephew of paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale to stay quiet about sexual abuse.

Yesterday David Ridsdale told the hearings in Ballarat that in 1993, after being informed of the abuse, Cardinal Pell asked him what it would take for him to stay quiet.

“George then began to talk about my growing family and my need to take care of their needs. He mentioned how I would soon have to buy a car or house for my family,” Mr Ridsdale said.

“I want to know what it will take to keep you quiet,” Mr Ridsdale quoted Cardinal Pell as saying.

In a statement released late on Wednesday, Cardinal Pell again denied those allegations.

“At no time did I attempt to bribe David Ridsdale or his family or offer any financial inducements for him to be silent,” the statement said.

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AUSTRALIA
Radio Australia

Child sexual abuse inquiry: Christian Brother called 12yo boy ‘evil’ as he abused him, royal commission hears

By court reporter Peta Carlyon

Victim Stephen Woods recalls being abused by three different members of the Catholic clergy when he was a schoolboy, as the royal commission continues a hearing in Ballarat.

More tales of horrific abuse have emerged in the third day of the royal commission hearing in Ballarat, with victim Stephen Woods recalling being abused by three different members of the Catholic clergy when he was a schoolboy.

Mr Woods wept in the witness box as he told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse his parents were “shattered” about the abuse, and his father once took a loaded shotgun to carry out retribution but did not go through with it.

He said his mother lost her Catholic faith after 70 years, and he was left grieving for his “lost life”.

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WASHINGTON
The Spokesman-Review

Nina Culver The Spokesman-Review

The Most Rev. Thomas Daly was installed as the seventh bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Spokane Wednesday as the fifth and sixth bishops looked on.

Hundreds of people packed into the Cathedral of Our Lady of Lourdes for Daly’s installation Mass, including family and friends of Daly’s. Half the church was filled with deacons and priests from all corners of the diocese, which covers 13 counties in Eastern Washington.

Sharon White said she hoped to meet the new bishop Wednesday afternoon but came to the Mass because of her faith.

“There’s just this sense of belonging and faith and love,” she said. “It just brings so much joy to your life.”

Daly, 55, was introduced by Archbishop Peter Sartain. Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, who is the Vatican’s ambassador to the United States, read the apostolic mandate signed by Pope Francis appointing Daly as the new bishop of Spokane. Vigano prayed for a “special outpouring of the Holy Spirit” on Daly as he takes his new post.

The Spokane Diocese had been without a bishop since the Most Rev. Blase Cupich was named archbishop of Chicago in November. Cupich began serving as bishop of Spokane in September 2010, replacing retiring Bishop William Skylstad. The diocese has struggled in recent years, filing for bankruptcy in the face of numerous sexual abuse lawsuits and then suing the lawyers that represented it in the bankruptcy after accusing them of mishandling the case.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

George Pell has supported offenders, not victims and should be compelled to front Royal Commission: survivors’ lawyer

May 21, 2015

Konrad Marshall
Senior writer

The chairman of the royal commission into child sexual abuse has fired a warning shot at church authorities to justify their denial of claims that former Bishop George Pell tried to bribe a victim of clerical abuse and ignored the pleas of another.

Commission chairman Justice Peter McClellan is expected to decide on the veracity of the explosive allegations against Cardinal Pell because they deal with the church’s response to reports of child sexual abuse.

Justice McClellan stressed on Thursday that he expected Cardinal Pell to fully defend himself against the claims if he was arguing the witnesses had deliberately given false evidence or made a mistake.

“I need to confirm, if it’s not already plain, that just because the church parties have chosen to conduct their case … in a particular way and not ask witnesses questions is not a matter that we will have regard to when making any findings that we believe are appropriate to make when we complete our reports,” he said.

Church authorities’ own decision not to cross-examine witnesses “does not bind” the commission’s own approach to its investigation, he said.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

May 21, 2015

Konrad Marshall
Senior writer

Gabrielle Short can conjure no fond memories of this place, the old orphanage once known as the Nazareth House Girls’ Home, once her home.

Sitting opposite Lake Wendouree, the structure is grandiose and beautiful but it seemed swallowed by a sickness in 1963, when Short was just seven.

She points to herself in a photo from that time, on the day of her first communion – that special Catholic sacrament after confession and before confirmation.

She is one of the dozen little girls dressed in white, surrounding a tall man in black, the chaplain and serial paedophile, Gerald Ridsdale.

They stand on green grass, smiling in front of a statue of Joseph and Our Lady and Jesus Christ. If she looks happy, it is because in her tender and “religiously brainwashed” mind the occasion seemed like her wedding day.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – PM

MARK COLVIN: A warning this story contains some disturbing material.

A Ballarat survivor of clerical sexual abuse has told the royal commission today that ten local victims have committed suicide in the last year.

Andrew Collins gave evidence that when he asked the Bishop of Ballarat for money to help struggling victims he was told the Catholic Church would outlast them.

Another witness told the commission today that it was “inconceivable” that George Pell didn’t know in the 1970s that priests in Ballarat were sexually abusing boys.

Samantha Donovan reports.

SAMANTHA DONOVAN: Fifty-three-year old Stephen Woods told the royal commission today he was regularly sexually abused by the headmaster of St Alipius Primary School, Father Robert Best. When he moved on to St Patrick’s College Ballarat for secondary school he was abused by Father Edward Dowlan.

Mr Woods gave evidence that as a 14-year-old he decided to report the abuse to a priest. He knocked on the door of the St Patrick’s presbytery. It was opened by Father Gerald Ridsdale, now known to have abused more than 50 children.

STEPHEN WOODS: Within half an hour of talking with Ridsdale in an upstairs room at the presbytery he had me sucking his penis and feeling his ass and he had my pants town. Then he drove me to a set of toilets around Lake Wendouree. He got me out of the car and he dragged me into a cubicle, made me pull down my pants and he anally raped me.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

By Abby Dinham
21 MAY 2015

(Transcript from World News Radio)

There have been further calls for Cardinal George Pell to front the child sexual abuse Royal Commission hearings in Ballarat, as harrowing victim accounts continued to be heard.

However Prime Minister Tony Abbott says he believes Cardinal Pell is actively dealing with the issues.

Abby Dinham reports.

A life time of living with the scars of sexual abuse has taken its toll on Stephen Woods.

“They had entrusted their most precious things to the church… and the church abused them.”

Raped and assaulted by three men in the Ballarat Catholic school system, Mr Woods wants answers from the town’s former Catholic Vicar General for Education.

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AUSTRALIA
The West Australian

By Megan Neil
May 21, 2015

A headmaster told an 11-year-old boy it was his fault he was being abused. A priest told another he was a bad child and would go to hell.

The child victims of the many clergy abusers in the Ballarat diocese were told they were the evil ones, an inquiry has heard.

And as recently as 2013, a Ballarat bishop is alleged to have told victims they were trying to destroy the Catholic church, but it would endure after they die.

Victim Andrew Collins told the abuse royal commission he was raped by his Seventh Day Adventist grade four teacher, who warned him that if he told anything the same thing would happen to his younger sister.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

‘Die Pell’: The Age newspaper’s savage Facebook post after Cardinal George Pell was linked to paedophile priest

One of Australia’s biggest national newspapers is investigating how the offensive comment ‘Die Pell’ appeared on their Facebook page referring to the under-fire Cardinal George Pell.

On Wednesday the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse revealed documents showing that Cardinal Pell had helped move Australia’s worst paedophile priest, Gerald Francis Ridsdale, between parishes at the height of his reign of terror.

The Age newspaper in Melbourne became embroiled in the backlash to this when the words ‘Die Pell’ was published on its Facebook page, which has a following of 110,000.

3AW News Talk reports that two separate sources confirmed with their presenter Neil Mitchell that a link to the newspaper’s coverage of the Royal Commission was posted along with the words ‘Die Pell’.

The newspaper is investigating how the offensive comment about Pell was published. Its editor Andrew Holden said the post was live for about one hour.

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AUSTRALIA
The Telegraph (UK)

By AFP 21 May 2015

Australia’s former top Catholic cleric, now Pope Francis’ finance chief, has denied trying to bribe a victim of a paedophile priest to keep quiet as an inquiry heard of horrifying abuse.

Cardinal George Pell spoke out on Thursday as abuse survivors demanded he return to Australia to give evidence to a royal commission on the allegations.

David Ridsdale, who was abused from age 11 by his uncle Gerald Ridsdale, a notorious paedophile priest now in jail, told the commission on Wednesday that he confided in family friend Cardinal Pell about the sex assaults in 1993.

He alleged that Cardinal Pell, who was appointed by Pope Francis in February 2014 to make the Vatican’s finances more transparent, went on to ask what it would cost to buy his silence.
The cardinal was also accused of helping to move the disgraced priest between parishes.

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MINNESOTA
KARE

[with video]

Allen Costantini, KARE May 20, 2015

HASTINGS, Minn. – After two days of questioning of prospective jurors, a jury of six men and eight women, including two alternates, was seated in the trial of a former priest. Francis Hoefgen, 64, is charged with First Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct involving an altar boy in a Hastings parish.

Hoefgen, who was a monk at St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, was also a priest at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parish in Hastings in 1989-1991, when the alleged assaults occurred. The victim, who is now 36 years old, was a 4th grader when the alleged illegal conduct began and continued for two years.

Prosecutor Paul Beaumaster, Assistant Dakota County Attorney, told the jury in his opening statement that Hoefgen had “violated the trust and the body” of the boy. Beaumaster said the priest/child relationship progressed “to oral penetration and anal penetration” and only ended with Hoefgen left Hastings.

The name of the alleged molestation victim was mentioned in court, but KARE 11 is not revealing it, since he is an alleged rape victim.

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AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times

May 21, 2015

Madonna King

If George Pell had headed a company and not the Catholic Church in Australia, he would have been chased out by shareholders before he was transferred to the Vatican.

If he’d run a school, and not shown a willingness to investigate serious and systemic accusations against his senior staff, he would have had his contract ended.

Indeed, if he’d led a suburban scout chapter while a litany of crimes went on around him, he would have been stripped of all badges.

But he escaped all of that, by being the head of the Catholic Church in Australia. And now – because of that – the Church’s response to the endemic sex crimes it hid for so long is being seriously dented.

Yesterday’s evidence to the royal commission – in the form of allegations against the former Archbishop of Melbourne and Sydney who now handles the Vatican’s finances – is jaw-dropping.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

Source: AAP
21 MAY 2015

Nicky Davis, leader of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, says Cardinal Pell must appear before the commission to answer claims against him.

Survivors told the commission’s Ballarat hearings Cardinal Pell ignored their reports about clergy sex abuse.

Cardinal George Pell has denied claims he bribed a victim of a pedophile priest to keep quiet and dismissed another victim’s complaints as ‘ridiculous’.

“It is vastly inappropriate to respond to sworn evidence by courageous survivors with a media statement that callously dismisses their experience,” Ms Davis said on Thursday.

“If Cardinal Pell is at all genuine in his claims to recognise the seriousness of the crime of sexual violation of defenceless children, he would voluntarily return to Australia to give evidence under oath to the royal commission.”

Cardinal Pell denied covering up priests’ crimes or offering bribes to victims to remain silent, as was alleged at the commission.

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

05/20/2015

Jennifer Haselberger

‘Curiouser and curiouser!’ cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English).

That sums up, in a nutshell, my response to yesterday’s news that Reverend Gerald Dvorak, a priest of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, has been removed from ministry as a result of what the Archdiocese deemed to be a credible allegation of sexual abuse of a minor.

Father Dvorak was certainly not on my radar when I worked at the St Paul Chancery, and the timing of the allegations also raises question. According to the statement released by the Archdiocese, the alleged abuse occurred in the 1970s, although Father Dvorak was not ordained a priest until June 2, 1979. An MPR news report includes a link to a letter from a parish deacon indicating that the alleged abuse occurred when Dvorak was a seminarian at the Saint Paul Seminary.

If so, the Archdiocese’s options in resolving this matter will be limited, which raises questions as to why they chose to approach the matter as they have. The provisions of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People do not apply, and any resolution will depend on the cooperation of all involved.

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FLORIDA
WSVN

[with video]

PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. (WSVN) — An alarming allegation has surfaced against the Archdiocese of Miami, after a lawsuit was filed claiming they covered up sexual abuse by a priest nearly 20 years ago.

A man said he was molested when he was a teen, back in the ’80s, but instead of taking action at the time, the alleged victim claims, the Archdiocese reassigned the priest to another church.

The crime allegedly happened at St. Maximilian Kolbe Church, dating back to 1989. The alleged victim said he was 14 years old when the priest at the church would call him into his residence, they would undress, wrestle, and the victim said he was then molested.

The victim said he reported the incident to his mother, and they called police. According to the alleged victim, there was an investigation. However, instead of removing the priest entirely, he was moved to another church, St. Pius X Catholic Church, in Fort Lauderdale.

The alleged victim said he’s coming forward 27 years later because he was triggered by his memories. “I feel like my whole world has been turned upside down. I have anxiety attacks, panic attacks, I’m having bad nightmares,” he said.

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CANADA
CBC News

By Karina Roman, CBC News

A group of aboriginal residential school survivors was in Ontario Superior Court Wednesday asking a judge to force the federal government to search for documents the former residents believe will help corroborate their claims of abuse.

The nine former students attended Bishop Horden residential school in Moose Factory, Ont. in the 1960s. They have pursued claims through the independent assessment process, the system set up under the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement for former students to seek compensation for abuse.

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

But in documents filed in court, the claimants say the government’s disclosure does not mention what these former students say they witnessed: namely, that some of the supervisors at Bishop Horden were arrested by police and some supervisors were fired.

They believe there must be documents, perhaps within the RCMP, to back up their recollections.

“To the adjudicator and [Department of Justice] counsel appearing at the IAP hearing, and even to the claimant’s counsel, with no documents coming forward about police involvement, it looks like a huge mistake or lie by that applicant,” the claimant documents say.

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

GEORGE PELL: CRIMES COMMITTED “PROFOUNDLY EVIL.”

“LIKE everyone who has been following the Royal Commissions hearings in Ballarat this week, I have been horrified once again by survivors’ accounts of the abuse they have suffered.

“Also the terrible impact it has had on their lives and families and the Catholic community of Ballarat.

“The suicide of so many victims is an enormous tragedy. The crimes committed against them by priests and brothers are profoundly evil and completely repugnant to me.

“A number of claims have been made concerning my own response during these years.

“Many of the issues have already been addressed by me in the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry in 2013, and my submission to that inquiry, and a transcript of my evidence, are available on the Victorian Parliaments website. I stand by the statements I made to the Victorian Parliament.

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WASHINGTON
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

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

Today, Spokane Catholics get a new bishop. We’re worried about how he’ll deal with clergy sex abuse cases.

Thomas Anthony Daly has spent time in the San Francisco archdiocese (26 publicly accused predator priests) and the San Jose diocese (12 publicly accused predator priests). He was promoted to head a seminary by the highly controversial and secretive Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco.

We call on Daly to immediately and aggressively reach out to anyone who saw, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes or misdeeds by two priests:

1–Fr. Daniel Wetzler, a credibly accused predator priest who was quietly suspended in October 2014. Then-Bishop Blasé Cupich notified only his flock, not the public and refused to disclose when the allegations surfaced. He also urged other victims to call church officials, not secular authorities. And he made no mention of possible criminal prosecution or of the need for Catholics and citizens to share what they know about the priest with law enforcement. This is disturbing and reckless. We hope Daly will rectify this self-serving and hurtful behavior.

[Spokane diocese]

[Spokesman-Review]

Child sex accusations should be made publicly as broadly and quickly as possible. Otherwise, child molesters are given more chances to intimidate victims, threaten witnesses, discredit whistle-blowers, destroy evidence, fabricate alibis and even flee the country.

Daly should now say what Cupich should have said – widely and clearly –months ago: If you saw, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes by Fr. Wetzler, you have a moral and civic duty to call the independent, experienced professionals in law enforcement so that kids might be protected, Fr. Wetzler might be prosecuted and the church itself be more healthy and safe. You may think that by keeping quiet, you’re helping your parish, diocese or faith. But you are doing just the reverse. So please, find the courage to break your silence, safeguard innocent kids, and prevent future crimes.

2–Fr. Brad Reynolds, who (as of a few months ago) was still on the job at a Catholic college in the Spokane diocese even though

–eight years earlier, he was sued for molesting two boys in Alaska,
–he was removed from his duties by his Jesuit supervisors, and
–he was allegedly put under 24 hour surveillance at a Jesuit institution.

[SNAP]

At least 39 Spokane priests have been publicly accused of child sexual abuse. That’s a very high number for a relatively small diocese. Daly should go “above and beyond” the bare minimum of paying settlements and suspending predators and work harder to warn parents, parishioners, police, prosecutors and the public about these predators.

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ILLINOIS
Chicago Tribune

By Todd Shields
Pioneer Press

Rev. Panagiotis Boznos: “I want our parish to become a united, worshipping community”
Parish leaders and the new priest of a Glenview church are reaching out to members after their former priest was charged with felony theft while presiding over a Milwaukee church.

The Rev. Panagiotis Boznos, who was named priest at Sts. Peter and Paul Greek Orthodox Church in August 2014, said his congregation “has been hurt and they’ve been vocal about that hurt.”

Previously, Boznos was assistant priest to the Rev. James Dokos, who has been charged with mishandling more than $1.2 million of a trust fund left to his Milwaukee church. He is awaiting trial.

Boznos said the alleged scandal has been difficult on his church members, but recently they began meeting with ministry and parish council leaders.

“The next phase will engage the entire parish in a series of surveys and consensus. We’ll gather information and put together a strategic plan,” he said.

Sts. Peter and Paul Greek Orthodox Church serves 650 families in Glenview, Northbrook, Skokie, Evanston, Deerfield and Chicago, he said.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

This is the full text of the statement released by Cardinal George Pell late on Wednesday in response to allegations he bribed the nephew of paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale to stay quiet about the sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of his uncle:

Like everyone who has been following the Royal Commission’s hearings in Ballarat this week, I have been horrified once again by survivors’ accounts of the abuse they have suffered. Also the terrible impact it has had on their lives and families and the Catholic community of Ballarat. The suicide of so many victims is an enormous tragedy. The crimes committed against them by priests and brothers are profoundly evil and completely repugnant to me.

A number of claims have been made concerning my own response during these years. Many of the issues have already been addressed by me in the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry in 2013, and my submission to that inquiry, and a transcript of my evidence, are available on the Victorian Parliament’s website. I stand by the statements I made to the Victorian Parliament.

I also note that under its terms of reference the Royal Commission can access all material from previous inquiries, including the Victorian Inquiry, which dealt with these matters extensively.

The Commission stated today that it will request a statement from me.

Over the last 24 hours I have been accused of being complicit in the moving of a known paedophile, of ignoring a victim’s complaint, and of bribery. These matters again require an immediate response and it is important to correct the record particularly given the false and misleading headlines.

Firstly, while out of the greatest respect for Mr Green, as I have stated previously, I have no recollection of a conversation with Mr Green in 1974, more than 40 years ago. Having recently read his statement to the Commission I still cannot remember Mr. Green or the conversation. To the best of my belief, this conversation did not happen. I stand by my previous statements.

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

SCOTLAND
Daily Record

6 MAY 2015

BY KENNY SMITH

Father Morton cleared of wrongdoing after historical sexual abuse allegation

The parish priest of St Bride’s in Cambuslang has been cleared of any wrongdoing after an allegation of historical sexual abuse.

Father Paul Morton was put on administrative leave last September by Catholic Church authorities whilst the claim was investigated, but he always maintained his innocence.

However, on Thursday evening, after an interview lasting less than an hour, he was informed there is no case to answer.

A Police Scotland spokesman said: “We can confirm police have carried out an investigation following an allegation of historical sexual abuse, and no further police action will be taken.”

Fr Morton’s family, friends, parishioners and members of the wider community are delighted, having stood by him throughout the allegations to give him their full support.

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FLORIDA
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

By Linda Trischitta
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

A new civil lawsuit alleges that nearly three decades ago, the Archdiocese of Miami moved a priest who was accused of sexually abusing a teenage boy at a Pembroke Pines parish to a Fort Lauderdale church, where he served until his retirement in 2014.

The archdiocese said the allegations were investigated by law enforcement at that time and the priest was not prosecuted.

The civil lawsuit was filed in Broward County court Tuesday against the archdiocese and Archbishop Thomas Wenski by an unidentified plaintiff called John Doe No. 133.

The archdiocese and its leader are accused of negligence for failing to protect the minor; intentional infliction of emotional distress for allowing the priest to have contact with children; failing to report alleged abuse to authorities and other complaints.

The retired priest, Rev. Harry Ringenberger, now 82, served at St. Maximilian Kolbe Catholic Church in Pembroke Pines in 1989, about the time the abuse is alleged to have happened.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

More than 1,400 suspects, including politicians and celebrities, have been investigated by police probing historical child sex abuse allegations.

The figures were revealed by Operation Hydrant, set up by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC).

It explores links between child sex abuse by “prominent public persons”.

Of the 1,433 suspects identified, 216 are now dead and 261 are classified as people of public prominence, with 135 coming from TV, film or radio.

Of the remainder:

* A further 76 suspects are politicians, 43 are from the music industry and seven come from the world of sport.
* A total of 666 claims relate to institutions, with 357 separate institutions identified.
* Of these, 154 are schools, 75 are children’s homes, and 40 are religious institutions.
* They also include 14 medical establishments, 11 community institutions, nine prisons, nine sports venues and 28 other institutions, including military groups and guest houses.
* Another 17 institutions are classified as unknown.

The figures are taken from police forces in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
They relate to reports of abuse, or investigations of abuse, which police forces were dealing with in the summer of 2014.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Journal (Ireland)

BRITISH POLICE SAID today they have received historical child sex abuse claims against 261 public figures, including 76 politicians, as they respond to a surge in complaints sparked by the Jimmy Savile scandal.

A review of investigations by regional police forces has identified 1,433 suspects — all men — in cases of alleged abuse by prominent public figures or people in institutions such as schools and hospitals.

They include 261 prominent figures, including 135 from world of television, film or radio, 76 local to national level politicians, 43 from the music industry and seven from the world of sport.

The investigations relate to 357 different institutions, including 154 schools, 75 children’s homes, 40 religious institutions and 14 medical establishments, according to the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC).

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

THIRTY-seven people in the public eye are among 110 suspects identified by Scottish police investigating alleged historic child sex abuse.

Police Scotland has revealed it currently has 58 separate inquiries into the alleged crimes, which are being investigated under the umbrella of Operation Hydrant.

The cases stretch back seven decades, as far as 1947, while the most recent dates from 2013.

Operation Hydrant is co-ordinating multiple historical child sexual abuse investigations around the UK. It was set up by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) to explore links between child sex abuse committed by “prominent public persons”.

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UNITED KINGDOM
National Police Chiefs’ Council

20 May 2015

This is set against the backdrop of indicative figures showing that police caseload for reports of child sexual abuse has increased 71 per cent in the last three years

In the summer of 2014, National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) Lead for Child Abuse Investigation, Chief Constable Simon Bailey established a coordination hub, Operation Hydrant, to oversee the investigation of allegations of non-recent child sexual abuse within institutions or by people of public prominence.

Police forces are currently notifying Operation Hydrant of all active cases fitting this criteria. Hydrant staff are then identifying links between investigations and preventing duplication between forces. They do not have any control over the investigations themselves.

Since the establishment of the Goddard Panel Enquiry, officers and staff from Operation Hydrant have also been working closely with the Panel Secretariat acting as the interface with the police service. Working relationships are well established and there is a constant flow of information between the secretariat and Hydrant staff.

To date Operation Hydrant has received reports of:

1433 suspects of which 216 are deceased

666 suspects related to institutions

261 classified as people of public prominence

506 are classified as unidentified

357 institutions have been identified within the scope of the operation.

CC Bailey said: “Operation Hydrant has been established to help senior investigating officers across the country to work together to ensure that these complex investigations are successfully managed and that best practice is identified and shared with frontline staff.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
USA Today

Kim Hjelmgaard and Jane Onyanga-Omara, USA TODAY

LONDON — More than 1,400 suspects, including 76 politicians and dozens of celebrities, are being investigated over allegations of child sex abuse involving VIPs and institutions such as schools, a British police group said Wednesday.

The allegations, many of which relate to cases from years ago, were revealed in a briefing to reporters by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), a group that operates across Britain’s disparate forces on what it calls “the most serious and strategic threats.”

Simon Bailey, a police chief in the eastern England county of Norfolk who is leading the investigation — called Operation Hydrant — said 1,433 alleged offenders have been identified.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, May 13

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

Though the figures are alarming, we are deeply grateful that the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) has disclosed that more than 1,400 prominent men are accused child sex abuse. Even more, we are deeply grateful to the hundreds of brave, wounded men, women and teenagers who have found the strength to break their silence and report their abuse. Their courage is making kids safer.

[Belfast Telegraph]

We’re also glad that law enforcement resources are being shifted to abuse cases. That should continue and in fact escalate. Because child sex crimes are so devastating and apt to be repeated, we feel there should be no higher priority for police and prosecutors and government officials than to aggressively prosecute, convict, expose and deter those who would commit or conceal heinous crimes against children.

We urge authorities to focus heavily on investigations into the 357 different institutions linked to the alleged abuse. We believe few predators can be deterred from perpetrating child sex crimes. But most of their work colleagues and supervisors CAN be deterred from ignoring, enabling, and minimizing those crimes. And that happens best when those who see or suspect child sex crimes but stay silent or hide them are severely punished.

Thousands more child sex abuse victims are still trapped in shame, confusion, guilt and self-blame. We beg them to get help, speak up, expose predators, protect kids, help police, and start healing.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The JC

A respected Jewish teacher skipped bail and fled to Israel using a false passport after being charged with sexual offences against two teenage girls, a court heard on Tuesday.

Father-of-10 Todros Grynhaus, 50, denies five counts of indecent assault and two counts of sexual assault.

On the first day of a retrial at Manchester Crown Court, the jury were told that Mr Grynhaus, a member of the Charedi community in Salford and the son of a rabbi, had admitted molesting a girl of 14 in a hotel jacuzzi.

The admission was made to his cousin, a rabbi in the strictly Orthodox community in Gateshead, following a meeting where Mr Grynhaus was confronted with the sexual abuse allegations.

The court heard that Mr Grynhaus told his cousin that he had abused two girls, admitting that “demons were going through him at the time”. But, he said, it was now behind him, with the offences alleged to have taken place around five years earlier.

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MINNESOTA
St. Cloud Times

David Unze, dunze@stcloudtimes.com May 20, 2015

HASTINGS – Jury selection in the trial of former St. John’s Abbey monk Fran Hoefgen is continuing in Dakota County, where Hoefgen faces charges that he sexually abused an altar boy at a Hastings church where Hoefgen was priest.

Hoefgen, 64, is charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct, accused of abusing the altar boy between 1989 and 1991 when Hoefgen was a priest at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in Hastings. The altar boy was 9 to 12 years old when the abuse occurred, according to court records.

Hastings police were first notified about the abuse in November 2013. State law allows prosecutors to pursue criminal charges for up to three years after a victim reports sexual abuse to law enforcement, even if the incident is decades old.

Hoefgen was laicized in December 2011. That is a process in which a cleric is made a layperson. He had been placed on restriction by St. John’s Abbey in 2002 after it received credible allegations against him of sexual misconduct.

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SCOTLAND
STV

A group of men accused of abusing pupils at a school run by the Christian Brothers have made their first appearance in court.

John Farrell, 72, Paul Kelly, 62, Edward Egan, 77, Michael Murphy, 75, and William Don, 61, appeared in the dock at the High Court in Glasgow.

They are accused of physically and sexually abusing boys at the former St Ninian’s School in Falkland, Fife, between 1970 and 1983.

The 23-page indictment lists 131 charges involving more than 40 alleged victims.

The five men each pleaded not guilty to all the allegations.

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ITALIA
Corriere del Mezzogiorno

[A Brindisi pastor has been charged with molesting boys.]

di Francesca Cuomo e Francesca Mandese

BRINDISI – È stato arrestato stamattina con l’accusa di violenza sessuale aggravata su persone di età inferiore ai 14 anni e abuso di autorità, don Giampiero Peschiulli ex parroco della chiesa di Santa Lucia di Brindisi. Il sacerdote, scoperto dalla trasmissione televisiva Le iene (e soprannominato «prete pomicione»), fu indagato e oggi il pm Giuseppe De Nozza ha fatto notificare il provvedimento. Il prete era stato sospeso e si era allontanato da Brindisi quando, a pochi giorni dal servizio di Italia 1, erano comparse alcune scritte sul muro della chiesa che lo definivano pedofilo. Nelle ultime settimane, però, don Giampiero era tornato in città nella sua casa di via Sicilia dove adesso è ai domiciliari.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Sandra Laville
Wednesday 20 May 2015

Police across the country are investigating more than 1,400 men – including 261 high-profile individuals – over allegations of child abuse in the past, a senior officer running the national operation has revealed.

The scale of alleged child abuse across society – both recent and non-recent – was stark, said Ch Const Simon Bailey, who runs Operation Hydrant, the national coordinating team overseeing the various inquiries.

Figures from police forces in England and Wales published on Wednesday reveal that 1,433 men have been identified in reports of alleged abuse by victims, since the operation was set up in 2014. …

Hundreds of institutions have been identified by victims of non-recent abuse as places where their abuse took place. These include 154 schools, 75 children’s homes, 40 religious institutions, 14 medical establishments, 11 community groups, nine prisons or young offender institutions, nine sports venues and 28 other places including military establishments.

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

AUSTRALIA
The Australian

TESSA AKERMAN THE AUSTRALIAN MAY 21, 2015

Cardinal George Pell is facing ­another demand for answers from the child-sex royal commission after further evidence alleging he was told directly of wrongdoing in the Ballarat diocese but did nothing to intervene.

Cardinal Pell has previously denied this claim by abuse survivor Timothy Green, when it was made at the trial of pedophile Christian Brother Edward Dowlan. Mr Green told the commission yesterday he said to Cardinal Pell in 1974 words to the effect of: “We’ve got to do something about what’s going on at St Pat’s.”

He said he told Cardinal Pell — now Australia’s most powerful Catholic — that Dowlan was touching little boys and Cardinal Pell said “don’t be ridiculous” and walked out.

The nephew of notorious pedophile Gerald Ridsdale, David Ridsdale, also told the commission he went to Cardinal Pell, who was a family friend, to tell him about the abuse he suffered from his uncle.

Mr Ridsdale said he called Cardinal Pell in February 1993 to discuss his abuse and the card­inal’s first reaction allegedly was, “oh, right”. “There was no shock,” he said. “His tone then became terse relatively quickly and I could sense anger in his voice.”

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Cardinal George Pell has denied claims he bribed the nephew of paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale to stay quiet about the sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of his uncle.

David Ridsdale told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse yesterday that in 1993 after being informed of the abuse Cardinal Pell asked him what it would take for him to stay quiet.

“George then began to talk about my growing family and my need to take care of their needs. He mentioned how I would soon have to buy a car or house for my family,” Mr Ridsdale said.

“I want to know what it will take to keep you quiet,” Mr Ridsdale quoted Cardinal Pell as saying.

In a statement released late on Wednesday, Cardinal Pell again denied those allegations.

“At no time did I attempt to bribe David Ridsdale or his family or offer any financial inducements for him to be silent,” the statement said.

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

AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

AAP

A clergy abuse victim who claims Cardinal George Pell tried to bribe him to keep quiet says the Catholic Church’s response was almost as painful as the abuse itself.

More victims will give evidence to the child sex abuse royal commission on Thursday, a day after its chair made it clear Cardinal Pell will have to answer allegations he knew about abuse by clergy in the Ballarat diocese.

David Ridsdale said he told Cardinal Pell, now the Vatican’s finance chief, in 1993 about the abuse at the hands of his uncle and pedophile priest Gerald Francis Ridsdale.

Mr Ridsdale told the commission Cardinal Pell asked him: “I want to know what it will take to keep you quiet.”

The former Sydney and Melbourne archbishop has been mentioned at the commission this week by several witnesses who say he knew – or at the least suggest he might have known – about the widespread abuse in Ballarat while he was a senior priest in the city in the 1970s.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

May 21, 2015

Nick Toscano and Jane Lee

Cardinal George Pell has strongly denied being involved in an alleged sex abuse cover-up within the Catholic church after a royal commission heard he tried to bribe a victim to keep quiet.

In a statement released on Wednesday night, Cardinal Pell renewed his rejection of claims that he helped move disgraced paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale between parishes and tried to pay one of his victims to remain silent.

He also denied ignoring another victim’s claim that a now-convicted sex offender was abusing children at St Patrick’s College in Ballarat.

Royal commission chair Justice Peter McClellan said on Wednesday that Cardinal Pell would be required to respond to the allegations.

Cardinal Pell, now finance chief at the Vatican, chose to release a statement online later that night saying he had already addressed many of the claims levelled against him in a Victorian parliamentary inquiry in 2013, and he stood by those statements.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

[with audio]

(Vatican Radio) A conference discussing ways to fight and prevent the scourge of child sexual abuse is taking place Wednesday in Paris.

The 2015 Congress organised by the International Catholic Child Bureau (BICE) is bringing together partners, people in the field, representatives from the government, civil society and the media to discuss the question of sexual abuse of children and learn more about its causes and consequences.

Monsignor Robert Oliver, Secretary of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, which is charged with advising the Holy Father on the protection of children, the prevention of abuse, and the pastoral care of victims of abuse in the Catholic Church, addressed the Congress on Wednesday morning.

He spoke to Lydia O’Kane about his intervention saying, it was about “our Commission the new Pontifical Commission that Pope Francis has put together, to help them to understand our work and in many ways that our work actually is quite parallel to what they’re doing, particularly emphasis on policies and developing guidelines and working with local churches.”

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

SHANNON DEERY HERALD SUN MAY 21, 2015

CARDINAL George Pell has denied explosive allegations he was complicit in the cover-up of widespread sexual abuse in Victoria.

Australia’s most senior Catholic Cardinal late last night from the Vatican maintained he never knew of any sexual offending by fellow clergy.

“Over the last 24 hours I have been accused of being complicit in the moving of a known paedophile, of ignoring a victim’s complaint, and of bribery,” he said.

“These matters again require an immediate response and it is important to correct the record particularly given the false and misleading headlines.”

He said a claim by victim Timothy Green that he told him about widespread abuse in 1974 was false.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

‘I continue to regret the misunderstanding between us’: Australia’s highest-ranking Catholic clergyman George Pell denies claims he tried to bribe the nephew of rampant paedophile priest to keep quiet

By LEESA SMITH FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

Cardinal George Pell refutes allegations that he attempted to bribe a victim of pedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale.

David Ridsdale, the nephew of Australia’s worst pedophile priest, said at a royal commission hearing into child sex abuse on Wednesday that he told Cardinal Pell in 1993 about the abuse at the hands of his uncle.

However, Cardinal Pell, who is a family friend, released a statement later that evening, denying that such a conversation ever took place and expresses his regret for the misunderstanding between the pair

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

CARDINAL George Pell says he must correct the record following “false and misleading” accusations at the abuse royal commission that he tried to bribe a victim of Australia’s worst paedophile priest, Gerald Ridsdale, to keep quiet.

In a statement, Cardinal Pell acknowledged he had been accused of being complicit in the moving of a known paedophile, of ignoring a victim’s complaint, and of bribery.

“These matters again require an immediate response and it is important to correct the record particularly given the false and misleading headlines,” the cardinal said.

“I would never have condoned or participated in a decision to transfer Ridsdale in the knowledge that he had abused children, and I did not do so.”

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

CARDINAL George Pell has moved to “correct the record” after being accused at the sex abuse royal commission of bribing a victim of pedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale to keep quiet.

THE commission, sitting in Ballarat this week, also heard claims the cardinal had dismissed another abuse victim’s complaint as “ridiculous” and was complicit in moving Ridsdale to another parish.

The Vatican’s finance chief on Wednesday denied all the accusations.

The former Sydney archbishop has been mentioned at the commission by several witnesses who say he knew – or at the least suggest he might have known – about the widespread abuse in Ballarat while he was a senior priest there in the 1970s.

The cardinal will have to answer to the commission after David Ridsdale, the nephew of Australia’s worst pedophile priest, said he told Cardinal Pell in 1993 about the abuse at the hands of his uncle.

Mr Ridsdale told the commission Cardinal Pell, a family friend, asked him: “I want to know what it will take to keep you quiet.”

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FLORIDA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, May 13

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

Yet another victim of clergy sex crimes charges that Miami Catholic officials quietly put a pedophile priest back on the job among unsuspecting families, according to a new lawsuit.

[Local 10]

Father Harry Ringenberger reportedly sexually assaulted a 14-year-old boy but was sent into a parish without any warnings to the flock.

We applaud the brave victim who is exposing clerics who commit and conceal child sex crimes. We especially applaud this victim for having the courage to speak publicly and the wisdom to seek justice. That’s how kids become safer – when those who see, suspect or suffer clergy sex crimes and cover ups expose wrongdoers and file lawsuits. Quietly reporting proven, admitted or credibly accused child molesting clerics is rarely the best approach.

We urge anyone who has information or suspicions about pedophile Catholic priests and corrupt church officials in Miami to call secular authorities, not church officials.

NOTE – Ringenberger worked at St. Maximilian Kolbe Church in Pembroke Pines and at St. Pius X Catholic Church in Fort Lauderdale.

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AUSTRALIA
Radio Australia

Cardinal George Pell denies claims he tried to bribe David Ridsdale to be silent over uncle’s sexual abuse

Cardinal George Pell has denied claims he bribed the nephew of paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale to stay quiet about the sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of his uncle.

David Ridsdale told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse yesterday that in 1993 after being informed of the abuse Cardinal Pell asked him what it would take for him to stay quiet.

“George then began to talk about my growing family and my need to take care of their needs. He mentioned how I would soon have to buy a car or house for my family,” Mr Ridsdale said.

“I want to know what it will take to keep you quiet,” Mr Ridsdale quoted Cardinal Pell as saying.

In a statement released late on Wednesday, Cardinal Pell again denied those allegations.

“At no time did I attempt to bribe David Ridsdale or his family or offer any financial inducements for him to be silent,” the statement said.

“At the time of our discussion the police were already aware of allegations against Gerald Ridsdale and were investigating. Then, and now, I supported these police investigations.”

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, May 20

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

Archbishop John Nienstedt’s new PR man may be worse than his old one. Tom Halden is choosing to “spin” for both complicit officials AND for predator priests too.

In an odd move, yesterday Halden released statements to the media for both Nienstedt and for Fr. Gerald Dvorak, the latest Twin Cities archdiocesan cleric to be accused of child sex crimes. Is this a new policy: that credibly accused child molesters get to have their say and spread their denials far and wide using archdiocesan resources donated by parishioners?

Halden also refused to say

–when Nienstedt learned of the allegation
–how Nienstedt learned of the allegation
–which church official allegedly told law enforcement about it
–which law enforcement agency was allegedly told about it
–when church officials allegedly told law enforcement and
–where the abuse allegedly happened.

So much for “openness and transparency.”

It’s possible, therefore, that Nienstedt has known of and concealed this abuse report for years.

Halden apparently believes that the less information church officials release, the less apt they are to be caught lying.

Halden does, however, claim that this “is the only accusation against (Fr. Dvorak) in all of his years in ministry.” We’re skeptical.

It’s especially outrageous that Halden and Nienstedt refuse to say which police department they allegedly told of this abuse report. Lacking that, others who might help prove or disprove this allegation don’t know who to call to share what they may know about this case. That’s very self-serving and irresponsible.

Catholic officials should make it easier, not harder, for victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to be helpful. Halden and Nienstedt know this. For their own selfish reasons – protecting their careers, comfort and reputations – Halden and Nienstedt are deliberately making it harder for police and prosecutors to build a case against a credibly accused child molester.

We call on every Catholic employee and parishioner in Minnesota who has suspicions or knowledge of Dvorak’s crimes or church cover ups to call police, expose wrongdoing, protect kids and start healing.

(NOTE: Fr. Dvorak worked in Hopkins, St. Paul, and Minneapolis.)

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FLORIDA
Local 10

Author: Amanda Batchelor, Senior Digital Editor, abatchelor@wplg.com

MIAMI –
A lawsuit was filed against the Archdiocese of Miami Tuesday by a man who claims he was sexually assaulted by a priest in 1989.

The alleged victim is seeking damages in excess of $5 million.

The complaint alleges that the archdiocese allowed Father Harry Ringenberger to continue serving as a priest despite being told that he had sexually assaulted a 14-year-old boy.

It’s unclear whether any criminal charges were ever filed against Ringenberger.

According to the complaint, the Archdiocese “sent Father Ringenberger away for approximately one year, (and) then assigned him to a new parish within the Archdiocese of Miami.”

At the time, Ringenberger was working at St. Maximilian Kolbe Church in Pembroke Pines, and most recently was working at St. Pius X Catholic Church in Fort Lauderdale.

READ: Full complaint

The victim, identified as “John Doe,” claims Ringenberger took off his clothes and wrestled with the boy at his home in the St. Maximilian church rectory. He said he was then sexually assaulted.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Lexology

Bolt Burdon Kemp

United Kingdom May 15 2015

We are happy to report that one of our clients has recently succeeded in a compensation claim for injuries suffered by a Church of England priest forchildhood sexual abuse after being denied justice by the criminal system.

Background – the abuse

Our client was sexually abused by Reverend Terence King who was the vicar of St Mary The Virgin Church in Dewsbury Road, Woodkirk when he was between 11 and 17 years old although the impact of the abuse continues to impact on his daily life to date.

In addition to sexually abusing our client, King also harassed him with telephone calls and his threats throughout the period of abuse made our client feel unable to disclose the abuse. He was particularly worried that nobody would believe him as King was a priest and a respected member of the local community with good public standing.

Our client decided to report the abuse to the police in April 2002 however as he could no longer handle King’s persistent calls and he felt a need to finally address the acts of abuse and the substantial impact of the abuse on his daily life.

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KANSAS
The Raw Story

TRAVIS GETTYS
20 MAY 2015

A Kansas woman said school administrators got a child abuse investigation launched against her after she reported that her daughter had been bullied.

Melissa Schroeder filed a defamation lawsuit last week against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kansas City, Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Shawnee, and the school’s principal, reported KSHB-TV.

Schroeder said she reported the bullying in April 2014, and she provided notes from a doctor who found the 10-year-old girl’s severe migraines may have been the result of mistreatment at school.

But the principal did not take the claims seriously, according to the suit – and told the woman that “perhaps this school is not for you.”

The Kansas Department of Children and Families opened a child abuse and neglect investigation against Schroeder – which she says was launched by a complaint filed by the principal.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

By Stephen Montemayor Star Tribune MAY 20, 2015

Opening statements are scheduled to begin Wednesday in the Dakota County trial of a former Catholic priest charged in connection with repeated sexual abusing an altar boy in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Francis Hoefgen, 64, who has left the priesthood and lives in Columbia Heights, was charged last year with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct for allegedly abusing the boy, who was between 9 and 12 years old at the time.

The Dakota County attorney’s office said the crimes were committed while Hoefgen was a priest at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church (formerly St. Boniface) in Hastings.

Hoefgen also has been sued under the 2013 Minnesota Child Victims Act, which opened a three-year window for the filing of lawsuits for decades-old child sex abuse claims. While dozens of Minnesota priests have since been accused of sexual misconduct, Hoefgen is one of the few to face criminal charges.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

Cardinal George Pell has denied allegations he tried to bribe a victim of pedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale.

David Ridsdale, the nephew of Australia’s worst pedophile priest, has told a royal commission that he told Cardinal Pell in 1993 about the abuse at the hands of his uncle.

He told the royal commission on Wednesday Cardinal Pell, a family friend, asked him: ‘I want to know what it will take to keep you quiet.’

Mr Ridsdale said Cardinal Pell started talking about his growing family and that he may soon have to buy a car or house.

He said his response was ‘f you George and everything you stand for’.

After he hung up, Mr Ridsdale said he told his sisters about the phone conversation.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

David Ridsdale speaks to reporters after telling the abuse royal commission that he told Cardinal George Pell that he was abused by his uncle, Australia’s worst pedophile Gerald Francis Ridsdale.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

By Megan Neil
May 20, 2015

UPDATE: Cardinal George Pell has responded to allegations he tried to bribe victims of pedophile priests.

In a statement released Wednesday night he said he was horrified by survivors’ accounts of the abuse they had suffered.

“The crimes committed against them by priests and brothers are profoundly evil and completely repugnant to me,” he said.

“A number of claims have been made concerning my own response during these years… Over the last 24 hours I have been accused of being complicit in the moving of a known paedophile, of ignoring a victim’s complaint, and of bribery.”

Cardinal Pell felt the matters required an urgent response due to ‘false and misleading headlines’.

Timothy Green, 53, alleged he was 12 or 13 when he told then Father Pell in late 1974 that Brother Edward Vernon Dowlan was abusing boys at Ballarat’s St Patrick’s College.

Cardinal Pell said he did not recall having the conversation and that to the best of his believe “the conversation did not happen”.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Jewish News

A Charedi teacher and son of a Beth Din judge has been convicted of at least five counts of sexual abuse of girls as young as 14, after a jury overwhelmingly found against him.

Todros Grynhaus, a father of ten from Manchester, consistently denied the allegations of several victims from the tight-knit ultra-Orthodox community in Salford, showing no emotion when the guilty verdict was read out.

During the two week trial, Grynhaus had claimed the underage girls were conspiring against him in a “plot,” but after hearing how he “forced himself on them,” jurors decided 10-2 that he was lying.

One of the young victims testified that he had assaulted her in a Jacuzzi, an allegation the 50-year old described as “pure fiction”.

Jurors had earlier learned that Grynhaus, who later set up a debt management company, had banned TV and newspapers from the family home, restricted internet use and deemed the only non-religious literature suitable for reading to be Enid Blyton novels.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Mirror

20 MAY 2015

BY GLEN KEOGH , SAM WEBB

Religious studies teacher Todros Grynhaus, 50, had attacked two girls aged 14 and 15 confiding to a colleague: “you have no idea of what demons were going through me at the time”

A top British rabbi exposed as a predatory paedophile was allowed to evade justice after a Jewish “mafia,” refused to call police and instead sent him on a course of therapeutic “healing.”

Religious studies teacher Todros Grynhaus, 50, had attacked two girls aged 14 and 15 confiding to a colleague: “you have no idea of what demons were going through me at the time.”

Details emerged as Grynhaus, the son of influential London Rabbi Dayan Dovid Grynhaus, was convicted of seven charges of indecent assault.

But when senior members of his orthodox Jewish community in Salford, Greater Manchester originally heard of his “litany of abuse” they called him to a meeting where they instead suggested the father-of-ten got treatment at a local clinic.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

Rabbi who indecently assaulted girls aged 14 and 15 was sent for therapy by community elders and police were only alerted two years later

By STEPHANIE LINNING FOR MAILONLINE

A respected rabbi who indecently assaulted two teenage girls was sent for therapy by community leaders when allegations of his crimes emerged and was only reported to police two years later.

Todros Grynhaus, 50, a prominent member of the Haredi Orthodox Jewish community in Salford, Greater Manchester, abused the girls, then aged 14 and 15, in the 1990s, the court was told.

The offences were brought to light when one of the victims told a psychologist about the ‘litany of abuse’ in 2009.

When senior members of the community heard of the accusations, they suggested Grynhaus, a father-of-ten, receive treatment at a local clinic. They told the court ‘no one wanted to report it’.

Grynhaus was charged with sex offences in 2012 after one of his victims reported him to the police.

While on bail in February 2013, Grynhaus fled the UK for Israel using a false passport. He was arrested in May 2013 as he tried to board a bus in Jerusalem and was deported last April.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

A former Hunter Valley Catholic brother, extradited from New Zealand to face child sexual abuse charges, has had his case adjourned to allow for ongoing negotiations.

Bernard Kevin McGrath, 67, is facing 252 child sex offences relating to 35 victims and dating back to the 1970s.

The alleged offences happened in the Lake Macquarie region, near Newcastle.

McGrath’s case was mentioned briefly in Newcastle Local Court today.

There is an enormous police brief of about 8,000 pages and the court was told negotiations are continuing relating to the charges.

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AUSTRALIA
The Telegraph (UK)

Senior Vatican figure accused of trying to cover up paedophilia in Australia

By Jonathan Pearlman, Sydney 20 May 2015

George Pell, an Australian Cardinal who is one of the most senior figures in the Vatican, has been accused of ignoring and covering up child sex abuse claims during his service in Australia, including allegedly trying to bribe a victim of a paedophile priest to remain silent.

In dramatic testimony at Australia’s royal commission into child sex abuse, David Ridsdale said he was abused by his uncle Gerard Ridsdale – a notorious paedophile and unfrocked priest – and phoned Cardinal Pell, who tried to silence him.

Mr Ridsdale said he spoke to Cardinal Pell in 1993 but the priest did not appear shocked and instead attempted to bribe him. Cardinal Pell has previously denied the claim.

“George then began to talk about my growing family and my need to take care of their needs. He mentioned how I would soon have to buy a car or house for my family,” Mr Ridsdale said.

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AUSTRALIA
Wyndham Star Weekly

Goya Dmytryshchak

UPDATE: An Altona woman has spoken about facing her abuser in court after a 16-year battle to have the Catholic brother extradited from the US.

Bernard Joseph Hartman, a former teacher at St Paul’s College in Altona North, faced court in relation to historical sexual abuse complaints made against him by two former students at the boys’ college and two women whose brothers attended the school.

On April 15, Hartman, 75, pleaded guilty in the County Court to four counts of indecent assault, including vaginal penetration, of two girls aged between eight and 11 between 1973 and 1979.

On May 1 a jury found Hartman guilty of one count of indecent assault and two of common law assault against a man, now 49, who was his student in years 10 and 11 in 1981 and 1982.

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